A technical analysis of hydrogen (H-2) production by coupling fermentation, distillation, and reforming is reported. A glucose solution (300 g/L glucose) was first fermented using a commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain at 30 degrees C. The fermented samples were then distilled, giving bioethanol with a steam/ethanol ratio of 3:1. Several synthetic and real bioethanol samples were subjected to catalytic steam reforming (SR) over Rh0.4Pt0.4/CeO2. At 700 degrees C, real bioethanol samples produced the highest H-2 yield (2.6 mol H-2/mol inlet) compared to synthetic samples (0.8-1.6 mol H-2/mol inlet), due to a synergistic effect between ethanol and fermentation byproducts, which increased H-2 production. The catalyst was stable over 20 h during the SR of bioethanol at 700 degrees C with no appreciable carbonaceous deposition. Overall mass and energy balances confirmed that this process produced 8.2 mol H-2/mol glucose, and could produce 5092 kJ/kg glucose as useful energy work output in fuel cell applications. Copyright (C) 2016, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.