This paper reports on the catalytic pyrolysis of glycerol into syngas over a 3 wt%Ce-20 wt%Ni/77 wt% alpha-Al2O3 catalyst and at reaction temperatures of 973 K, 1023 K and 1073 K. NH3- and CO2-TPD analyses have revealed that the as-synthesized catalyst was net acidic with acid-to-basic site ratio of 1.24. This provides ideal conditions for chemisorption of glycerol. In addition, the BET specific surface area was 2.89 m(2) g(-1). The small surface area can be attributed to the thermally stable alpha-Al2O3 support. In addition, the average crystallite size was 40.22 nm. The catalytic glycerol pyrolysis produced gaseous products that were comprised of H-2, CO, CO2 and CH4 only with H-2:CO ratios that were consistently less than 2.0. This ratio is suitable for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The yields of CO2 and CH4 were several folds lower than the yields Of H-2 and CO, indicating that the latter were from primary reaction, viz. glycerol decomposition whilst the former were from secondary competing reactions. In addition, the activation energy obtained via Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was 25.34 kJ mol(-1). Used catalyst characterization showed that the carbonaceous deposit was in the forms of whisker-type. This type of carbon deposit would not physically deactivate the catalyst. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.