The steam reforming of ethanol could be a solution to reduce CO2 emissions in industrial hydrogen plants, given its renewable character. To adapt this process into the Repsol refineries, a scheme with pre-reforming section has been considered. Ethanol steam reforming has been tested using a commercial nickel catalyst at industrial pre-reforming conditions, particularly at high pressure (25 bar). In addition, a new “Ethanol-to-shift” process using a commercial water gas shift (WGS) catalyst to convert ethanol is proposed.The pilot plant tests show that complete ethanol conversion is reached at low space velocity (WHSV < 1 h−1) or at high temperature (400 °C), with predominance of methane formation. The commercial nickel catalyst is stable for at least 530 h due to the use of high hydrogen partial pressure to inhibit coke deposition. Then, it has been proven that it is a technically feasible process for industrial scale. The WGS catalyst (Fe–Cr), however, does not achieve full conversion even at very high temperature.An economic analysis indicates that the steam reforming process would only be viable with a low price of ethanol (around 350 €/t), which is far from the current market price.