Steam gasification experiments of biomass char were carried out in a fixed-bed reactor. The experiments were completed at bed temperature of 600-850 degrees C, a steam flow rate of 0-0.357 g/min/g of biomass char, and a reaction time of 15 min. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of bed temperature and steam flow rate on syngas yield and its compositions. The results showed that both high gasification temperature and introduction of proper steam led to higher yield of dry gas and higher carbon conversion efficiency. However, excessive steam reduced gas yield and carbon conversion efficiency. The maximum dry gas yield was obtained at the gasification temperature of 850 degrees C and steam flow rate of 0.165 g/min/g biomass char. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.