This Article investigates the decomposition of benzene (as a model tar) over finely dispersed char particles continuously distributed into a packed bed. Fragmented char particles and benzene plus a gasification agent (H2O or CO2) were supplied into a ceramic reactor that was heated electrically. The supplied char particles were retained in the reactor by a bed of alumina grains. Woody char as well as iron-doped and potassium-doped woody char were used. The influence of the gasification agent, char concentration, char weight time (proportional to the instant char mass present in the bed), and bed temperature (600-1050 degrees C) was investigated. Increasing the char concentration and char weight time increased benzene conversions for all tested chars. At similar char weight times, the benzene conversion increased with temperature, whereas the iron- and potassium doped char did not affect the specific conversion. At similar char concentrations, changing the gasification agent from CO2 to steam as well as using doped char led to decreased benzene conversions. This can be explained by accelerated char gasification reactions and thus a diminished char mass in the packed bed. Furthermore, benzene conversion rates were enhanced in the presence of CO2 as compared to steam. As the temperature was increased from 950 to 1050 degrees C, the benzene conversions were slightly reduced. This was interpreted as a combined effect of the enhanced benzene conversion rates and reduced char weight times. The highest benzene conversions achieved in the experiments were approximately 80% at 950-1000 degrees C using CO2 as gasification agent and supplying approximately 20-30 g N m(-3) undoped woody char.