Experiments were performed in an entrained flow reactor to better understand the characteristics of biomass gasification. Rice husk was used in this study. Effects of the gasification temperature (700, 800, 900 and 1000 degrees C) and the equivalence ratio in the range of 0.22 similar to 0.34 on the biomass gasification and the axial gas distribution in the reactor were studied. The results showed that reactions of CnHm were less important in the gasification process except cracking reactions which occurred at higher temperature. In the oxidization zone, reactions between char and oxygen had a more prevailing role. The optimal gasification temperature of the rice husk could be above 900 degrees C, and the optimal value of ER was 0.25. The gasification process was finished in 1.42 s when the gasification temperature was above 800 degrees C. A first order kinetic model was developed for describing rice husk air gasification characteristics and the relevant kinetic parameters were determined. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.