Biomass and coal are important solid fuels for generation of hydrogen-rich syngas from steam gasification. In this work, experiments were performed in a bench-scale gasifier to investigate the effect of coal-to-biomass ratio and the reaction kinetics for gasification of chars of biomass, coal and coal-biomass blends. In the gasification of these chars, steam was used as the gasification agent, while nitrogen was used as a gas carrier. The gasification temperature was controlled at 850, 900 and 950 degrees C. Gas produced was analysed using a micro-GC from which carbon conversion rate was also determined. From the experiments, it is found that the coal and biomass chars have different gasification characteristics and the overall reaction rate decreases with an increase in the ratio of coal-to-biomass. The microstructure of the coal char and biomass char was examined using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and it was found that the biomass char is more amorphous, whereas the coal char has larger pore size. The former enhances the intrinsic reaction rate and the latter influences the intra particle mass transportation. The difference in mass transfer of the gasification agent into the char particles between the two fuels is dominant in the char gasification. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.