The term »reforming» was originally used to describe the thermal conversion of petroleum fractions to more volatile products with higher octane numbers, and represented the total effect of many simultaneous reactions such as cracking, dehydrogenation and isomerisation (Yaman, 2004). Reforming also refers to the conversion of hydrocarbon gases and vaporized organic compounds to hydrogen containing gases such as synthesis gas, which is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Synthesis gas can be produced from natural gas, for example, by such processes as reforming in the presence of steam (steam reforming) (Klass, 1998).

Fast pyrolysis of biomass followed by catalytic steam reforming and shift conversion of specific fractions to obtain H2 from bio-oil was presented as an effective way to upgrade biomass pyrolysis oils. Production of hydrogen from reforming bio-oil was investigated by NREL extensively, including the reactions in a fixed bed and a fluidized bed (Wang et al., 1997,1998; Czernik et al., 2007). Commercial nickel catalysts showed good activity in processing biomass derived liquids (Ekaterini & Lemonidou, 2008).