The BEACON process involves the catalytic deposition of a highly reactive form of carbon from a gas stream which contains carbon monoxide. The carbon-depleted gas is combusted with air to produce power, and the carbon is reacted with steam to produce methane or hydrogen. Bench scale development of the methane process was completed during the second quarter 1983 and the results reported to DOE. Bench scale development of the hydrogen process is currently underway. This document summarizes the effort expended in the selection and preparation of the primary and back-up hydrogen production catalysts to be used in multi-cycle testing at bench scale. The effort comprised the Task 1 experimentation of the current BEACON program and was six weeks in duration. From 20 catalysts screened at laboratory scale as candidates for hydrogen production from BEACON carbon, two were selected as promising for exhibiting good performance (activity and selectivity) at reaction pressures above ambient. These two catalysts, No. 6 and No. 11, were subjected to extensive carbon deposition-steaming testing at 50, 75 and 100 psig (3 to 5 cycles at each pressure,7565 ); 10 to 20 gram batches of solids were used in these tests. Performance comparisons led to the selection of Catalyst No. 11 as the primary catalyst for the hydrogen process. Catalyst No. 6 performed well enough at pressures up to 50 psig to be considered as a potential replacement to Catalyst No. 11 should the latter fail multi-cycle testing (long-term activity tests at elevated pressures). The multi-cycle testing (a minimum operation of 250 hours of simultaneous carbon deposition and steaming to hydrogen) will be performed in the existing Tandem Reactor apparatus under Task 2 of this program. 2 figs., 7 tabs.