Before revision:  The results are illustrated on steady state equations in chemical reaction network theory .
After revision:  The results are illustrated on steady state equations of chemical reaction networks. For homogeneous ideals we give an efficient, Gr\"obner-free algorithm for binomiality detection, based on linear algebra only. On inhomogeneous input the algorithm can only give a sufficient condition for binomiality. As a remedy we construct a heuristic toolbox that can lead to simplifications even if the given ideal is not binomial .