Thermochemical two-step methane reforming, involving the reduction of metal oxide with methane to produce syngas and the oxidation of the reduced metal oxide with water vapor to produce pure hydrogen, was investigated over a Cu-ferrite/ZrO2 (CFZ) medium, as a reactant for the redox reaction. To improve the reactivity of the CFZ medium, we considered the addition of Ni or Ce additive to the medium. The reduction behavior of the media in the syngas production step was examined by temperature-programmed reduction method. The reaction characteristics of the media by varying Ni or Ce additive content was evaluated in fixed bed reaction system with infrared heating under the temperature range of 700 similar to 900 degrees C. In addition, the repeated cyclic tests were performed to determine durability of the media. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.