The activity for oxidative methanol reforming (OMR) as a function of time-on-stream was determined for CuO catalysts supported on ZnO or ZrO2. The ZnO-supported samples deactivated more quickly than the ZrO2-supported samples during 18 hour reactions at 225 degreesC. X-ray diffraction characterization showed that copper oxide particle size increases during the reaction, which implied that loss of CuO surface area is a cause of deactivation. The data suggested that the increase in CuO particle size was accompanied by sintering of the support, which was facilitated by the presence of water vapor at elevated temperatures.