The catalytic steam gasification of pig compost (PC) for hydrogen-rich gas production was experimentally investigated in a fixed bed reactor using the developed NiO on modified dolomite (NiO/MD) catalyst. A series of experiments have been performed to explore the effects of catalyst, catalytic temperature, steam to PC ratio and PC particle size on the gas quality and yield. The results indicate that the NiO/MD catalyst could significantly eliminate the tar in the gas production and increase the hydrogen yield, and the catalyst lives a long lifetime in the PC steam gasification. Moreover, the higher catalytic temperature and smaller PC particle size can contribute to more hydrogen production and gas yield. Meanwhile, the optimal ratio of steam to PC (S/P) is found to be 1.24. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.