Highlights•Willow, wheat straw, cattail, moringa & spruce pellets were torrefied in a horizontal moving bed.•Average particle mass and mass flowrate were predictive of torrefaction mass yield for 4/5 types.•Mass flow correlated to mass yield at 250 °C by Ym = 0.35Q+0.7, validated by additional datapoints.•The long, cylindrical shape of wheat straw seemed to limit torrefaction.•Horizontal moving bed should be concluded to be a feedstock-flexible design for torrefaction.