Methanation of a 9/1 mixture of Hz/CO at 180"C has been studied by transient techniques in a gradientless microreactor. The use of isotopic techniques and temperature programmed reduction (TPR) made possible the measurement of adsorbed CO, of a reactive carbon C~and of an inactive carbon Cpo As little as 0.04-0.06 monolayers of a heterogeneous layer of C~are present under the reaction conditions studied. About a monolayer of adsorbed CO is present at 18O"C, independent of time on stream in synthesis gas. The inactive CfJ species accumulates slowly with increasing time on stream in synthesis gas even at the low temperature of lSO'C. In addition, appreciable amounts of formate species are observed, exceeding a monolayer and located on the alumina support. The formate does not appear to be in the carbon pathway from CO to CH •. The rate is essentially controlled by the dissociation of surface CO.