Experiments on flash pyrolysis of biomass (rice husk and sawdust) were performed in an entrained flow reactor at different temperatures (700-1000 degrees C). Results show that temperature has great impact on the biomass flash pyrolysis reactions. With the increase of temperature, the gas yield increased, while the yields of char and liquid decreased. After the early stage of pyrolysis, the gas yield increased gradually which could be attributed to the increase of CO and CH(4) yields at low temperature, while to the increase of CO and H(2) yields at high temperature, A first order kinetic model was employed to describe biomass flash pyrolysis characteristics and the relevant kinetic parameters were determined. Numerical simulation of pyrolysis process was carried out, the predicted yields of produced gases agreed reasonably with the experimental data. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.