Gasification of biomass is becoming common technology now a days; it is convenient to apply numerical simulation to the process to save time and energy as compared to the lengthy experimentation. Syngas produced as a result of gasification has many applications. Keeping in view those applications the objective of this work is to maximize the yield of syngas, using five different biomass like bagasse, wood sawdust, douglas fir bark, peanut hull and rice husk. The maximum yield of syngas is calculated using rate equations under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. For isothermal conditions, the kinetic model is simulated over the temperature range of 1000-1300 K by taking a step size 50 K to estimate optimum temperature. For non-isothermal conditions, the kinetic equations are solved for heating rate range of 25-75 K/s by taking a step size 10 K/s to assess optimum value of heating rate. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.