A Cu/ceria/alumina catalyst has been tested for the water-gas shift reaction under fuel reformer conditions for fuel cell applications. These catalysts do not need any reduction before use and are non-pyrophoric. However, their activity is significantly lower than a Cu/Zn/Al catalyst. A detailed kinetic analysis shows that the data can be described by a two-step redox model and that ceria lowers the activation barrier of the water dissociation. The lower activity of the Cu/Ce/Al catalyst compared to the Cu/Zn/A1 is due to the lower copper surface area of the former one. The kinetic analysis includes a rigorous procedure based on an analysis of the Jacobian matrix in order to eliminate non-influential parameters from the rate-equations. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.