There is a large number of different gasification techniques, developed and under development, to select from when planning for a gasification based conversion processes. Each technique has there advantages and disadvantages depending on factors such as:

• The scale of the conversion process considered. For example, large-scale production of trans­portation fuels or chemicals, pressurized gasification systems are economically more feasible (Hamelinck, 2004).

• The biomass feedstock that will be used. Here we also have the question of the availability of the feedstock as well as the needed feedstock flexibility of the gasifier.

• The requirements from the application, such as power generation with gas turbine, FT-diesel or methanation, concerning the quality of the synthesis gas or product gas.

There are also other factors that may influence the choice of gasification technology.

R&D activities in the area gasification of biomass to commercialize the technology started already in the 1970s and since then several projects to demonstrate the technology have been executed. So far, due to economic and political incentives, there are no advanced large-scale plants, such as IGCC for heat and power as well as syngas production, in operation today. In the sections below a few selected examples of recent ongoing activities within the field is presented.