The activity, sulfur tolerance and coking resistance of ZSM-5-zeolite-supported Nickel catalysts and novel bimetallic catalysts of Ni-Co, Ni-Mo and Ni-Re for steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbons were studied. Results were compared with those for the traditional Ni/Al2O3 catalyst. The activity and sulfur tolerance of the Ni-based catalyst supported on ZSM-5 zeolites, especially on CeZSM-5, is much better than those of alumina-supported Ni catalyst. A novel highly active bimetallic Ni-Re/Al2O3 catalyst system is developed for steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbons. The novel bimetallic Ni-Re catalyst exhibits unique high activity and promising sulfur tolerance for steam reforming of the liquid fuel, even at a comparatively lower reaction temperature of 853 K, while the activity of the traditional Ni/Al2O3 catalyst is relatively much lower and is sharply suppressed by the presence of 20 ppm sulfur in the feed. The order of activity and sulfur tolerance of catalysts is Ni-Re/Al2O3 > Ni/CeZSM-5 > Ni/HZSM-5 > Ni/Al2O3. The activity of the novel bimetallic Ni-Re catalyst is quite stable with time on stream, and the high activity is maintained well even after about 300 h of time on stream. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.