The intensive coke deposition and reforming at high temperature that occur in the case of the conventional Ni/gamma-Al2O4 catalyst lead to rapid catalytic deactivation and reduced H-2 production from the hydrocarbon steam-reforming reaction. We used the impregnation approach to synthesize MgO (30 wt%) Al2O4 catalysts loaded with bimetallic Ni(15 mol%)/Ag(15 mol%) or Ag/Ni and studied the steam reforming reactions of butane over these catalysts. The Ag-loaded catalyst exhibited significantly higher reforming reactivity compared to the conventional Ni/MgAl2O4 catalyst. The main products from steam reforming over the Ni/MgAl2O4 catalyst without the Ag component were H-2, CO, CO2, and CH4, with a small amount of C-2 similar to hydrocarbons. However, the addition of Ag reduced the degree of carbon deposition and improved the H-2 product selectivity by eliminating the formation of C-2 similar to hydrocarbons at temperatures below 750 degrees C. The catalytic performances differed according to the order in which the added metal precursors were impregnated in each step. The H-2 production was maximized at 68% over Ni(9)/Ag(1)/MgAl2O4 at 700 degrees C for 1 h and this high performance continued for up to 53 h. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.