Of diverse biomass resources, woody biomass is of particular interest for biomass energy. Woody biomass is used to produce bioenergy and a variety of biobased products including lumber, composites, pulp and paper, wooden furniture, building components, round wood, ethanol, methanol, and chem­icals, and energy feedstock including firewood.

The U. S. national Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 2005 recognized the importance of a diverse portfolio of domestic energy. This policy outlined 13 recommendations designed to increase America’s use of renewable and alternative energy. One of these recommendations directed the Secretaries of the Interior and Energy to re-evaluate access limitations to federal lands in order to increase renewable energy production, such as biomass, wind, geo­thermal, and solar. The Departments of Agriculture and Interior are jointly implementing the National Fire Plan (NFP), the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative, the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, and the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 to address the risk of catastrophic wildland fires, reduce their impact on communities, assure firefighting capabilities for the future, and improve forest and rangeland health on federal lands by thinning biomass density. The NFP includes five key points: (1) firefighting preparedness, (2) rehabilitation and restoration of burned areas, (3) reduction of hazardous fuels, (4) community assistance, and (5) accountability [12].

On June 18, 2003, the U. S. Departments of Energy, Interior, and Agriculture jointly announced an initiative to encourage the use of woody biomass from forest and rangeland restoration and hazardous fuels treatment projects. The three departments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Policy Principles for Woody Biomass Utilization for Restoration and Fuel Treatment on Forests, Woodlands, and Rangelands, supporting woody bio­mass utilization as a recommended option to help reduce or offset the cost and increase the quality of the restoration or hazardous fuel reduction treat­ments [12, 13].

One of the gateway process technologies for bioenergy generation from woody biomass is gasification, whose resultant product is biomass synthesis gas, also known as biomass syngas or biomass gas. The biomass syngas is similar in nature and composition to coal-based or natural gas-based syngas, whereas differences are largely originated from the source-specific proper­ties. Similarly to the syngas generated via coal gasification or natural gas ref­ormation, biomass syngas is also rich in hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane and as such this syngas can be used as building block chemicals [14] for a variety of synthetic fuels and petrochemicals and also as a feedstock for electric power generation.