Composite palladium membranes can be used as a hydrogen separator because of their excellent permeability and permselectivity. The total membrane area in a hydrogen separator must be reasonably large for industrial use, and it is important that each membrane provides a large enough area. Such a demand can be well met by introducing multichannel composite membranes. In this work, a commercially available microporous ceramic filter with 19 channels was used as a membrane substrate, and the diameter of each channel was 4 mm. A uniform thin palladium layer was fabricated inside the narrow channels by using an electroless plating method, and the resulting membranes were highly permeable and selective. This membrane concept provides a high surface-to-volume ratio without causing significant pressure loss, making the hydrogen separator compact and capable. However, special attention should be paid to cleaning the membrane after electroless plating. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.