Chemical-looping ethanol reforming with carbon dioxide capture is proposed. It combines chemical-looping reforming and carbon dioxide capture for pure hydrogen generation from ethanol with inherent separation of carbon dioxide. A thermal analysis of the process using NiO oxygen carrier is performed by simulating reactions using the Gibbs energy minimization method. The promising systems are investigated further with respect to temperature, NiO/C2H5OH molar ratio, CaO/C2H5OH molar ratio and pressure changes as well as possible carbon formation in the reformer. Favorable operation conditions in the presence of CaO are: pressures around 3 atm, reactor temperatures around 850 K, NiO/C2H5OH molar ratio = 3 and CaO/C2H5OH = 3. The H-2 yield and thermal efficiency with CaO addition are higher than that without CaO addition, showing that the addition of a CO2 sorbent in the process increases the H-2 production. Copyright (C) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.