Abstract. Microstructural characteristics of various real Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts for methanol steam reforming (MSR) were investigated by in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD), in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and electron microscopy (TEM). Structure–activity correlations of binary Cu/ZnO model catalysts were compared to microstructural properti…