Challenges of coupling steam reforming of ethanol (SRE) and carbon monoxide (CO) removal to continuous fuel-cell grade hydrogen (H-2) production were assessed. A SRE reactor, based on a previous optimized RhPt/CeO2-SiO2 catalyst, was coupled to a CO removal reactor, based on AuCu/CeO2 catalysts with different Au:Cu weight ratios. Fuel cell grade H-2 was achieved with a Au1.0Cu1.0/CeO2 catalyst at 210 degrees C on the CO removal reactor. AuCu/CeO2 catalysts characterization suggests that Au favors CO conversion by the formation of possible Au-0-COad species, and Cu improves CO2 yield by promoting oxygen vacancies on CeO2. However, operando DRIFTS by 95 h showed that Au1.0Cu1.0/CeO2 catalyst is susceptible to deactivation by the diminish on the COad species and oxygen vacancies, and the formation of carbonate species. These results allowed us to propose a cyclic reduction treatment to prevent catalyst deactivation of Au1.0Cu1.0/CeO2 (95 h of time on-stream) while producing fuel-cell grade H-2. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.