NOVELTY - Preparing biomass feedstream for gasification, comprises: comminuting biomass to effective particle size, conducting to drying zone and passing to torrefaction zone; passing dried comminuted biomass stream to gasification zone; venting first vapor stream and conducting remaining first vapor stream to combustion zone (160); conducting second vapor stream to combustion zone and recycling remaining second vapor stream to torrefaction zone; conducting hot flue gas to drying zone; passing remaining hot flue gas through first passageway; and passing heat transfer medium through second passageway.    USE - The process is useful for preparing biomass feedstream for gasification (claimed) for the production of syngas.    ADVANTAGE - The process utilizes: torrefaction that increases biomass feedstream energy density and friability, and results in higher efficiency gasification of the torrefied biomass; and a gasifier feed system and thus greatly simplifies the gasifier operation with respect to controlling ratio of hydrogen:carbon monoxide in the resulting syngas.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Preparing a biomass feedstream for gasification, comprises: comminuting the biomass to an effective particle size; conducting the comminuted biomass to a drying zone where at least 90 wt.% of water is removed resulting in a dried comminuted biomass stream and a first vapor stream; passing the dried comminuted biomass stream to a torrefaction zone where it is torrefied at 200-350 degrees C, in a substantially non-oxidizing environment and at an effective residence time resulting in a second vapor phase stream comprised of water vapor and small amounts of organic components, and a torrefied dried comminuted biomass stream; passing at least a portion of the torrefied dried comminuted biomass stream to a gasification zone; venting at least a portion of the first vapor stream to the atmosphere and conducting at least a portion of any remaining first vapor stream to a combustion zone (160); conducting at least a portion of the second vapor stream to the combustion zone and recycling at least a portion of any remaining second vapor stream to the torrefaction zone to act as a sweep gas, where the combustion zone is operated at an effective time and temperature that will result in the conversion of at least 99 wt.% of any volatile organic components from the second vapor phase to a hot flue gas; conducting a portion of the hot flue gas to the drying zone to provide at least a portion of the heat necessary to dry the biomass to a predetermined level; passing at least a portion of the remaining hot flue gas through a first passageway of a heat exchanger having a first passageway and a second passageway contiguous to each other but not in fluid communication with each other, where each of the passageways has an inlet and an outlet and each passageway is constructed to allow a fluid to pass from its inlet to its outlet and to allow heat to be transferred from a fluid of one passageway to a fluid in the other passageway; and passing a heat transfer medium through the second passageway of the heat exchanger where heat is transferred from the hot flue gas passing through the first passageway of the heat exchanger resulting in a heated heat transfer medium and a cooled flue gas.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a simplified flow diagram of preparing biomass feedstream for gasification.    Milling zone (100)    Drying reactor (120)    Torrefaction reactor (130)    Combustion zone (160)    Blower (180)