Full factorial experimental design with 32 runs was used to investigate the significant and interaction variable of the reaction parameters on phenol steam reforming toward hydrogen production. Effects of selected factors on the phenol conversion (Y 1 ) and hydrogen yield (Y 2 ) were evaluated. These factors were as follows: (A) temperature (500 and 800˝C); (B) feed flow rate (0.16-0.46 mL/min); (C) catalyst weight (0.1-0.3 g); (D) Ni-Co ratio (0-1); and (E) phenol concentration in the feed (2-10 wt %). Ni and Co over ZrO 2 support for catalytic performance of phenol steam reforming (SRP) was prepared by the impregnation method. The result indicated that all the main independent variables had significant influence on the dependent variable of Y 1 and Y 2 with a range of 2.7%-96.8% and 21.4%-72.4%, respectively. Additionally, some interaction variables like AE, BE, CE, and DE have also influenced the Y 1 and Y 2 responses. This design showed that the best initial conditions that produced maximum Y 1 and Y 2 responses were at 800˝C, 0.16 mL/min feed flow rate, 0.3 g of catalyst, 0 ratio of Ni-Co (Co/ZrO 2 ), and 10 wt % of phenol in the feed, where the phenol conversion was predicted to be 94.98% and the hydrogen yield was predicted to be 67.4%. Within the limits the variables were examined, a regression model which well-fitted the experimental data was proposed. The regression model were reduced to simplify and to get the significant regression coefficient with p-value less than 0.05.Appl. Sci. 2016, 6, 223 2 of 21 production from phenol is steam reforming of phenol (SRP), which can produce more H 2 yield based on stoichiometry in Equations (1) and (2):Ni-based catalysts with a high activity for the phenol steam reforming process have been investigated extensively in recent years [4][5][6] due to the ability to cleave C-C, O-H, and C-H bonds [7]. In addition, cobalt can assist with C-C bond cleaving at temperatures as low as 400˝C; this shows high production of H 2 and CO 2 [8] due to the highly favourable water gas shift reaction [9][10][11]. However, there are a few items that can be identified as the catalyst in the reforming of phenol: the conversion of phenol, and the yield of H 2 , CO or CO 2 . Many issues affect this performance, such as the steam to phenol (S/P) ratio, catalyst composition, flow rate of carrier gas, operating temperature, reactant feed rate and space time, preparation method, catalyst particle size, amount of catalyst, and ratio of active metals in multiple active metal catalyst use. Exothermic reactions, high phenol conversion, and the rate of gas production all occur at a high temperature. The same results were found in previous works regarding the temperature effect on phenol conversion. Some researchers have found that the conversion of phenol increased with the increasing of temperature [6,[12][13][14]. Based on the works of Rioche et al. [13] and Shurong et al. [15], the increase in catalyst activity is based on the increasing temperature. They have found that a complete phenol conve...