Catalytic steam reforming of the bio-oil aqueous fraction represents an attractive route to hydrogen (H-2). In the present work, acetol (or hydroxyacetone) was selected as a representative of the ketonic fraction in bio-oil. Kinetics of acetol steam reforming was studied in a fixed-bed reactor over wide ranges in temperature, 623-773 K, acetol concentration, 5-20 wt%, and W/F-AO ratio, 0.93-4.66 g h/mol, using a commercial 5% Pt/C catalyst. It was found that the investigated reaction belongs to the kinetically controlled reaction regime systems. The increase in temperature and space time caused the expected increase in acetol conversion and H2 yield. A single-site heterogeneous kinetic model was proposed to describe reaction kinetics. Reaction rates predicted by this model were in good agreement with the experimental rates. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.