The objective of this work was to investigate the ability of char from biomass microwave pyrolysis at 800 degrees C for tar removal, using toluene as the model compound. The experiments were conducted in a fixed bed with microwave heating and electrical heating, respectively. Carbon weight in biomass char was calculated after the experiments, and the chars were characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) measurement. The results indicated that microwave heating had a promoting effect on toluene conversion. With the temperature increasing to 750 degrees C, cracking conversion and hydrogen selectivity rose respectively to 92.77% and 91.74%. CO2 reforming of toluene was effective to produce more syngas. An optimum CO2 flow rate, i.e., 80 mL min(-1), was existed under microwave heating. In this case, toluene conversion reached a maximum of 92.03%, and the syngas yield also increased to 91.03%. The ratios of H-2/CO exhibited a substantial reduction with increasing CO2 flow rate. At CO2 flow rate of 100 mL min(-1), the ratio approached stoichiometric ratio in reforming reaction, and the ratio further reduced to 0.22 at CO2 flow rate of 120 mL min(-1). Toluene reforming displayed a relative stable performance for the conversion of toluene, since the existence of CO2 efficiently relieved biomass char deactivation. Toluene reforming conversion retained at about 86% in a time range of 20-140 min. Carbon gasification during the reforming reaction possessed a resistance to carbon deposition, but it simultaneously caused carbon loss in biomass char. The most serious weight-loss ratio was 5.42% in this work, obtained at CO2 flow rate of 120 mL min(-1). The consumed carbons were gasified into part of syngas production and provided the biggest contribution of 15.4% to final syngas production. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.