A plate-type reactor with 10 channels is designed for methanol steam-reforming and its performance is investigated in the temperature range 210-290degreesC. A catalyst coated with zirconia-sol solution in the channels of the reactor exhibits a good adherence with the substrate that is maintained even after reaction including fast feed flow rates at high temperature. Five plate-type reactors are stacked in order to test their performance for methanol steam-reforming. At 270degreesC, hydrogen at 3.11h(-1) is obtained at a feed flow rate of 2.0 gh(-1), which corresponds to results for a conventional packed-bed reactor under various reaction conditions. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.