Elementary kinetic mechanisms of fuel oxidation on ceria have not been dealt with in detail in literature. An elementary kinetic model is developed considering charge transfer and adsorption steps for electrochemical H-2 and CO oxidation on ceria. The reaction chemistry is solved by fitting previously obtained impedance spectra for H-2 and CO oxidation on ceria. The rate determining step is found to be the charge transfer rather than the adsorption for both H-2 and CO. A method is presented to extend the kinetics obtained from pattern anodes to macroscopic simulations in which the activation overvoltage can be calculated on the basis of elementary kinetics. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.