Metal oxide-stabilized mesoporous zirconia supports (M-ZrO(2)) with different metal oxide stabilizer (M = Zr, Y, La, Ca, and Mg) were prepared by a templating sol-gel method. 20 wt% Ni catalysts supported on M-ZrO(2) (M = Zr, Y, La, Ca, and Mg) were then prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation method for use in hydrogen production by auto-thermal reforming of ethanol. The effect of metal oxide stabilizer (M = Zr, Y, La, Ca, and Mg) on the catalytic performance of supported nickel catalysts was investigated. Ni/M-ZrO(2) (M = Y, La, Ca, and Mg) catalysts exhibited a higher catalytic performance than Ni/Zr-ZrO(2), because surface oxygen vacancy of M-ZrO(2) (M = Y, La, Ca, and Mg) and reducibility of Nil M-ZrO(2) (M = Y, La, Ca, and Mg) were enhanced by the addition of lower valent metal cation. Hydrogen yield over Ni/M-ZrO(2) (M = Zr, Y, La, Ca, and Mg) catalyst was monotonically increased with increasing both surface oxygen vacancy of M-ZrO(2) support and reducibility of Ni/M-ZrO(2) catalyst. Among the catalysts tested, Ni catalyst supported on yttria-stabilized mesoporous zirconia (Ni/Y-ZrO(2)) showed the best catalytic performance. (C) 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.