The output stream of the stirred fixed-bed gasifier at the Morgantown Energy Technology Center was sampled for total entrained material. A major portion of the entrained material, in addition to particles, is condensable tar that is subsequently removed from the process gas by wet scrubbing. Characterization of the entrained materials, specifically the tar, is important to establish contaminant levels and to evaluate performance of downstream cleanup units. Samples of tars were collected from the process unit in a combined ice, dry ice, and liquid nitrogen sampler and stored in a refrigerator. The tar samples were then separated into asphaltene, neutral oil, tar acid, and base fractions by solvent extraction using toluene, pentane, sulfuric acid, and potassium hydroxide extraction. Characterization of the fractions obtained from these tars include IR, UV, GC, and GC/MS analysis. The mass spectrometer analysis of the various isolates shows that many individual peaks in the gas chromatograph are in fact mixtures that can be readily identified by the mass spectrometer. It was found that many of the species identified in these fractions were members of aromatic homologous series consisting of parent, mono, di, and tri substituted compounds. Compound identification was made by comparison of the data system library and standard reference spectra. This paper will discuss the instrumental approach and limitation of the GC/MS and the results of the characterization studies of entrained hydrocarbons collected from the gasifier stream.