This work addresses a thermogravimetric method for the steam gasification of carbon deposited over ceria zirconia supported nickel (10% Ni/CZO) catalysts. The carbon deposits, which were obtained from the decomposition of isooctane over 10% Ni/CZO catalyst at 500, 650, and 725 degrees C, respectively, were used as the model species. Gasification temperature and characteristics of different carbon species have been investigated, and the resulting gaseous products were measured by FT-IR spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy. The carbon species formed at different decomposition temperatures indicated distinctly different ability for gasification. Combined with features of TPO profiles and SEM images, our experiments suggest that the coating carbon, which covers the surface of Ni/CZO catalyst, can be removed by gasification at low temperatures around 600 degrees C. However, the gasification degree of filamentous carbon species depends on its formation temperature. For filamentous carbon obtained from isooctane decomposition at 500 degrees C the gasification starts at 690 degrees C, while filamentous carbon species obtained from isooctane decomposition at temperatures >= 650 degrees C undergo complete gasification at this temperature. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.