The feasibility of internally finned monoliths (IFMs) as a packing for multifunctional reactors, such as catalytic distillation (CD) columns, is investigated by evaluating the most important design parameters. A comparison is made with two commonly used packings, catalyst bales and open cross-flow structures. The flexibility in design offers the possibility to optimize the IFMs according to the process requirements. Hydraulic and mass transfer properties of the IFMs are within the range of the conventional CD-packings.