NOVELTY - The method for forming syngas from a carbon-containing feed material e.g. biomass, comprises devolatilizing the carbon-containing feed material to form a gas phase and a solid phase in a devolatilization unit (201), passing the gas phase and a portion of the solid phase through a heated reaction vessel (301) to form syngas, recovering a carbon-containing char, and oxidizing the char to generate ash. The devolatilization is performed in the presence of free oxygen in an amount of 0.1-25% of the stoichiometric amount of oxygen to completely combust the feed material.    USE - The method is useful for forming syngas from a carbon-containing feed material e.g. biomass such as agricultural wastes, forest products, grasses and other cellulosic material to produce alcohols e.g. methanol and/or ethanol.    ADVANTAGE - The method is capable of economically forming syngas with high purity and desirable ratios of hydrogen to carbon monoxide to facilitate the conversion of syngas to other products in an eco-friendly manner thus improving the production of the syngas and other products such as methanol and/or ethanol.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - The method for forming syngas from a carbon-containing feed material e.g. biomass, comprises devolatilizing the carbon-containing feed material to form a gas phase and a solid phase in a devolatilization unit (201), passing the gas phase and a portion of the solid phase through a heated reaction vessel (301) to form syngas, recovering a carbon-containing char, and oxidizing the char to generate ash. The devolatilization is performed in the presence of free oxygen in an amount of 0.1-25% of the stoichiometric amount of oxygen to completely combust the feed material. The passing step is performed in the presence of free oxygen in an amount of 0.1-50% of the stoichiometric amount of oxygen to completely combust the carbon contained in the solid phase. The steps of devolatilizing and/or passing are performed in the presence of a catalyst. The catalyst is active for steam reforming of methane. The carbon-containing feed material includes ash. The catalyst comprises recycled ash. The elements are derived from ash contained in the carbon-containing feed material. The method further comprises measuring the composition of the gas phase and/or the solid phase, determining a suitable amount of the catalyst based on predicted reactions to form syngas, and introducing the suitable amount of the catalyst. The presence of the recycled ash increases the amount of produced syngas compared to the amount of syngas produced by the same method in the absence of ash recycling, decreases the amount of pyrolysis products compared to the corresponding amount produced by the same method in the absence of ash recycling, and increases the syngas purity compared to the syngas purity produced by the same method in the absence of ash recycling.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The diagram shows a process flow for the production of syngas from any carbon-containing feed material.    Feed section (101)    Devolatilization unit (201)    Heated reaction vessel (301)    Quench and compressing section (401)    Syngas conditioning section. (501)