Auto-thermal updraft gasification of biomass pellets in a packed bed reactor was conducted by using air and air–steam mixture. Air–steam gasification produced syngas with slightly improved lower heating value of 4.5MJ/mN 3 in comparison to 4.4MJ/mN 3 produced during air gasification. The corresponding tar generation for air gasification and air–steam gasification was 21.2g/mN 3 and 26.2g/mN 3, respectively. Cold gas efficiency for air gasification and air–steam gasification was realized to be 91% and 91.4%, respectively. Carbon conversion during air–steam gasification reached about 91.5% while carbon conversion during air gasification was limited to 84.3%.