Oxidative steam reforming of ethanol was investigated over a supported Ir/CeO2 catalyst in a micro-channel structured reactor. The catalyst coating was successfully deposited on the channel and showed a remarkably high homogeneity and an excellent adherence to the stainless steel platelets leading to stable performance during long time runs. Both the activity and hydrogen selectivity in the micro-structured reactor was found higher than in a conventional fixed-bed reactor due to the rapid mass and heat transfer hence being extremely promising for hydrogen production in micro fuel cell application. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.