ORDER to improve methods for the gasification of solid I" fuels, fundamental information is needed concerning the rate and mechanism of the steam-carbon reactions. The literature contains a number of papers ( 1 , 5-7, 9, 10, 12, IS, 15, 61, 12) 1 Present address, Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio. 1 Deceased.zero, fractional, first, second, or unknown. Gadsby, Hinshelwood, and Sykes (6) account for much of the disagreement on the basis that the retarding effect of hydrogen is often overlooked in determining the reaction order. -4 wide variation in the type of carbon studied, ranging from coal to graphite, undoubtedly also has had a major effect on the inconsistencies of the results.Regarding the mechanism of the reaction, it has been shown rather conclusively in two recent papers, one by Long and Sykes ( 1 3 ) and one b y Johnstone, Chen, and Scott ( 9 ) , that the primary product of the reaction between carbon and steam is carbon