Selected metal ions (Ni, Co, Mn, Mg, or Zn) were introduced into iron oxide (spinel lattice) and the resulting materials screened for catalytic activity for the high temperature water-gas shift reaction using waste-derived syngas. The active phase of spinel ferrite catalysts was directly synthesized by the glycine assisted sol-gel combustion method under a reducing atmosphere. Among the prepared catalysts, NiFe2O4 catalyst showed the highest CO conversion (81%) with stability even at a very high gas hourly space velocity of 40,057 h(-1). This result was primarily due to the inverse spinel structure and easier reducibility of NiFe2O4 catalyst. Copyright (C) 2016, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.