This paper reports the hydrogen production through the steam reforming of a bioresource-derived butanol mixture (butanol:acetone:ethanol = 6:3:1 mass ratio) over supported cobalt-based catalysts. The support plays an important role for the catalytic behavior and Co/ZnO exhibits the best catalytic performance compared to Co/TiO2 and Co/CeO2. Moreover, a higher hydrogen yield is obtained over bimetallic Co-Ir/ZnO, which shows an increase in H-2 selectivity and a decrease in CH4 selectivity under steam reforming conditions, compared to Co/ZnO. Raman results of the used catalysts indicate that the addition of Ir could prevent the coke formation to prolong the catalyst stability. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.