CO oxidation is used as a probe reaction to evaluate the redox properties of catalysts for the low temperature oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethane. Three series of Nb1-x-NixO nanocomposites with various Nb contents (x = 1, 0.95, 0.90, 0.85, 0.80) are prepared by a sol-gel route based on citrate and tested in a 16 parallel fixed-bed unit. Reductive and oxidative pre-treatments are shown to influence both the activity and the stability of the catalysts in CO oxidation. The extent of this effect depends on the Nb content of the composites, the Nb-rich samples being generally the most affected. However, the order of reactivity in CO oxidation is the same for the three series and is maintained whatever the conditions of the pre-treatment. It is the same as that observed in Nb1-x-NixO-catalyzed ethane ODH. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.