Biomass-derived synthesis gas can be readily converted into fuels and chemicals by anaerobic microorganisms. However, synthesis -gas fermentations typically exhibit low volumetric productivities due, in part, to low cell densities, production of unwanted by -products, and slow transfer of the synthesis gas into the liquid phase. Engineering approaches to improve bioreactor productivities are discussed, and recent advances in this area are summarized. Particular emphasis is placed on the use of bioreactor design to increase biocatalyst concentrations, development of metabolic models to study pathway regulation and the use of microbubble dispersions to enhance synthesis-gas mass transfer.Synthesis gas, which consists primarily of carbon monoxide (CO), and hydrogen (H 2 ), is produced by the partial oxidation of an organic feedstock at high temperature in the presence of steam. Although coal and petroleum have historically been the most commonly used feedstocks for synthesis-gas production, several new gasification plants have recently been based on biomass (7). Biomass offers several advantages over the traditional feedstocks. First, it has a much lower sulfur content than many coals. Synthesis gas produced from wood chips at the GE gasification plant in Schenectady, NY contained 28 ppm H 2 S (2), compared to 1-2% for coal-derived synthesis gases (3). Purification steps to remove sulfur from coal-derived synthesis gas are energy-intensive and add significantly to the product costs (4). Second, biomass materials are more reactive and thus require lower gasification temperatures and/or residence times. Fluidized-bed coal gasifiers are typically run at 1000°C using residence times of 0.5-3.0 h. By comparison, a temperature of 850°C was sufficient to gasify biomass using a residence time of 30 s to 5.0 min (5). Third, gasification of wood waste has the potential to solve a disposal problem while producing a valuable product. When wood waste is in