The use of microchannel chemical reactors has led to the development of engineered catalysts for reaction systems with intrinsically rapid surface reaction kinetics. By removing or suppressing heat and/or mass transfer limitations and operating under short residence times, a much smaller process system is needed to achieve high product throughput. In addition, the use of short residence times can lead to non-equilibrium product distributions. In this work, engineered catalytic strucures have been developed for carbon monoxide hydrogenation (Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis). The engineered structures must be designed in such a way as to allow for rapid heat removal for the exothermic reaction so that formation of the undesired side paroduct, methane, will be limited. In addition, they must be thermally stable and resistant to deactivation. At the same time, the catalyst structures must provide sufficient dispersion of active metal constituents and they must not produce significant pressure drops through ractor systems.