NOVELTY - Continuously (P1) converting biomass into oxygenated organic compound, involves: (a) continuously gasifying biomass at elevated temperature to provide crude syngas; (b) removing ash in crude syngas by phase separation; (c) contacting formed ash-reduced crude syngas with oxygen under partial oxidation condition; (d) continuously cooling partially-oxidized syngas with water to provide quenched syngas; and (e) removing hydrogen cyanide from quenched syngas by sorption and chemical reactions to provide fermentation gas feed; and (f) continuously supplying gas feed to fermentation zone.    USE - For continuously converting biomass into oxygenated organic compound comprising ethanol (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The processes are provided for the conversion of biomass to oxygenated organic compound using a simplified syngas cleanup operation that is cost effective and protects the fermentation operation. The processes treat the crude syngas from the gasifier by non-catalytic partial oxidation. The partial oxidation provides several advantages beyond reducing the hydrocarbon content such as methane, ethylene and acetylene contained in the crude syngas. The partial oxidation increases the concentration of both hydrogen and carbon monoxide and lowers the hydrogen to carbon monoxide mole ratio which is particularly advantageous in producing syngas for anaerobic fermentation. The partial oxidation results in a reverse water gas shift being observed such that the carbon dioxide concentration is decreased, thus a higher percentage of the biomass becomes available for bioconversion to oxygenated organic compound.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Continuously (P1) converting biomass into oxygenated organic compound, involves: (a) continuously gasifying biomass at elevated temperature to provide a crude syngas at, at least 450 degrees C, where the crude syngas having a Component Composition containing carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide and methane (at least 3 mol.%); hydrogen sulfide (at least 100 parts per million (ppm) (mole)), benzene (at least 600 ppm (mole)), ethylene (at least 1000 ppm (mole)), acetylene (at least 500 ppm (mole)), and at least 20 ppm (mole) hydrogen cyanide and ash; (b) removing by phase separation a major portion by mass of the ash while the crude syngas is maintained at, at least 350 degrees C to provide an ash-reduced crude syngas; (c) continuously contacting the ash-reduced crude syngas with oxygen under partial oxidation conditions to perform a partial oxidation at, at 800-1700 degrees C and for a time to provide a partially-oxidized syngas having a Component Composition containing less than 1 mol.% methane and at least the same molar concentration of carbon monoxide as contained in the ash-reduced crude syngas on a Component Composition basis, the partially-oxidized syngas having a Component Composition containing at least 80 ppm (mole) hydrogen sulfide, less than 50 ppm (mole) ethylene, less than 10 ppm (mole) acetylene; (d) continuously cooling the partially-oxidized syngas at least partially by contact with water to cool the partially-oxidized syngas to a temperature below 100 degrees C and provide a quenched syngas containing less than 80 ppm (mole) hydrogen sulfide on a Component Composition basis; and (e) removing hydrogen cyanide from the quenched syngas by at least one of sorption and chemical reaction to provide a fermentation gas feed with a Component Composition having a hydrogen cyanide content of less than 2 ppm (mole); and (f) continuously supplying the gas feed to a fermentation zone having an aqueous menstruum containing microorganisms for converting syngas to oxygenated organic compound, where the aqueous menstruum being maintained under anaerobic fermentation conditions, to produce the oxygenated organic compound. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for the following:    (1) a continuous process (P2) for the partial combustion of crude syngas having a Component Composition containing at least 3 mol.% methane;    (2) a partially-oxidized syngas having a Component Composition comprising: (a') hydrogen and carbon monoxide, where the mole ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide is 0.4:1-1.5:1 and where hydrogen and carbon monoxide comprise the syngas composition of at least 70 mol.%; (b') methane (0.1-0.75 mol.%); (c) acetylene of (1-50 ppm (mole)); (d) ethylene (10-100 ppm (mole)); (e) hydrogen cyanide (0.1-50 ppm (mole)); and (f) carbon dioxide (5-25 mol.%); and    (3) an apparatus for the conversion of biomass to oxygenated product comprising: (a1) at least one gasifier capable of converting biomass to syngas at, at least 450 degrees C having at least one biomass input port and at least one syngas exit port; (b1) at least one solids removal device capable of operating at least at 350 degrees C in fluid communication with at least one syngas exit port of a gasifier and capable of removing solids from syngas; (c1) at least one partial oxidation unit having at least one crude syngas inlet port, at least one oxygen inlet port and at least one partially-oxidized syngas exit port, where the crude syngas inlet port being in fluid communication with at least one solids removal device, and at least one oxygen inlet port being in fluid communication with a source of an oxygen-containing gas; (d1) at least one methane detector in fluid communication with at least one partially-oxidized syngas exit port capable of determining the concentration of methane in the gas passing through the at least one partially-oxidized syngas exit port and generating a control signal corresponding to such concentration; (e1) a controllable valve positioned between the source of an oxygen-containing gas and at least one oxygen inlet port that is controlled in response to the control signal from the at least one methane detector; (f1) at least one heat exchanger in fluid communication with at least one partially-oxidized syngas exit port to contact gas from the at least one partial oxidation unit with aqueous medium to provide a cooled gas at less than 100 degrees C at a cooled gas exit port, at least one of the heat exchangers adapted to provide direct contact of the partially-oxidized syngas with water; (g1) at least one hydrogen cyanide removal unit in fluid communication with the cooled gas exit port adapted to provide at least one treated exit port a hydrogen cyanide depleted gas; (h1) at least one fermentor in fluid communication with at least one treated exit port, the fermentor containing an aqueous menstruum under anaerobic fermentation conditions, where the aqueous menstruum comprising microorganisms for converting carbon monoxide and hydrogen and carbon dioxide to oxygenated organic compound, and the fermentor comprising at least one gas exit port and at least one liquid exit port; and (i1) at least one oxygenated organic compound recovery unit in fluid communication with at least one liquid exit port to recover oxygenated organic compound from the aqueous menstruum.