Abstract: To gasify carbonaceous material into gas containing CO and H2, the drying and/or the heating and the pyrolysis of the carbonaceous material are performed using microwave irradiation and thermal irradiation and the pyrolysis products and/or the carbonaceous material are then gasified. For this purpose the carbonaceous material is irradiated in a microwave station with a heating unit, and then passed on into a reactor for gasification. The gasification occurs with the aid of a water-steam plasma source.