A thermodynamic equilibrium model was used to predict the chemical composition of the products of biomass gasification. The effects of temperature, pressure, steam biomass ratio (SBR) and equivalence ratio (ER) on the equilibrium hydrogen yield were studied. Gibbs energy minimization approach was used to determine the product gas composition. Wood (designated by CH1.5O0.7) was used as the model biomass compound and Stanjan (v 3.93L) software was used. Gasifier, the most critical component of any biomass gasification system, was modeled as an equilibrium reactor and the energy consumption and thermodynamic efficiency were determined. A first law analysis of the gasifier showed that the optimum conditions for hydrogen production occurred at a gasification temperature of 1000 K, SBR of 3, ER of 0.1. Finally, equilibrium calculations were compared with experimental data from literature which showed that for high gas residence times and high gasification temperatures there is a close match of equilibrium results with experimental ones. (c) 2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.