Main characteristics of gaseous yield from steam gasification have been investigated experimentally. Results of steam gasification have been compared to that of pyrolysis. The temperature range investigated were 600-1000 degrees C in steps of 100 degrees C. Results have been obtained under pyrolysis conditions at same temperatures. For steam gasification runs, steam flow rate was kept constant at 8.0 g/min. Investigated characteristics were evolution of syngas flow rate with time, hydrogen flow rate and chemical composition of syngas, energy yield and apparent thermal efficiency. Residuals from both processes were quantified and compared as well. Material destruction, hydrogen yield and energy yield is better with gasification as compared to pyrolysis. This advantage of the gasification process is attributed mainly to char gasification process. Char gasification is found to be more sensitive to the reactor temperature than pyrolysis. Pyrolysis can start at low temperatures of 400 degrees C; however char gasification starts at 700 degrees C. A partial overlap between gasification and pyrolysis exists and is presented here. This partial overlap increases with increase in temperature. As an example, at reactor temperature 800 degrees C this overlap represents around 27% of the char gasification process and almost 95% at reactor temperature 1000 degrees C. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.