The work dealt with the enrichment of hydrogen by Water Gas Shift (WGS) reaction in a catalytic Membrane Reactor (MR) starting from a syngas having the typical composition obtained in updraft gasification of lignocellulosics. The used MRs were externally made of Pd-Ag membranes, which exhibit high hydrogen selectivity, and contain a Pt on ZrO2 catalyst. The permeate flow of hydrogen is of ultrapure quality and positively affected the WGS yields that, in optimized conditions, overcame the theoretically expected values in closed system. The experiments were performed in a recently built rig designed to treat up to 0.25 Nm3/h of syngas and explored the operative ranges 300-350°C, 2 -8 bar; H2O/CO molar ratio 2-4. © 2018 ETA-Florence Renewable Energies.