A system is set forth for the exothermic generation of soot depleted syngas comprising (i) reacting a hydrocarbon-containing fuel with an oxygen containing gas in a first reactor to produce the syngas and byproducts comprising CO.sub.2, H.sub.2O and soot; and (ii) introducing the syngas and byproducts into a second reactor containing a non-carbonaceous material that traps the soot for a sufficient time such that the majority of the byproduct soot is gasified via reaction with the byproduct CO.sub.2 and/or H.sub.2O to produce a syngas stream that is depleted in the soot. The system is particularly suitable for the practice of heat exchange reforming wherein a portion of the heat is recovered from the soot depleted syngas stream and used as at least a portion of the heat to facilitate the additional production of syngas via the (endothermic) catalytic reforming of natural gas and steam.