A direct fuel gasifier simply will not self sustain without constant intervention. Without automation a direct fuel gasifier will not be hands free. Most down draft gasifier's have active grates that must be agitated to keep the system flowing and generally a hopper vibrator is employed to prevent fuel bridging. As gas flows oscillate along with gas energy density fluctuations an electronic air fuel mixer may also need to be employed to sustain proper fuel / air mixture for optimum power output of the generator. Automation adds cost, it adds complexity, it adds additional components that can break.
Char ash removal and condensate on most typical systems at our scale will need daily servicing or multiple servicing's per day. Not the case with charcoal, as the charcoal is fully reduced leaving only very little ash. There is no condensate so there is nothing there that is needed to service and that condensate is in fact toxic and a carcinogen!! Our charcoal units if ran on a daily basis only require weekly to monthly servicing.
Charcoal systems are simply less complex. The reaction process is exothermic so there is no need to cool the gas as it is already cool by the time it leaves the gasifier unit. So no cooler is needed the coarse filter box is more than adequate to shed any excess heat. The water shift is generally 100% and we even add in water injection to our systems. 25% of your gas energy density comes from ordinary water that is cracked in process. Another reclaim that can not be done with direct fuels gasification.
Filter system is simply a coarse and fine filter to remove dust. There is generally no tar ever produced so we are not concerned with attempting to filter tar. However even charcoal is not 100 percent tar free nor is it 100% hands free. If tar is ever produced it is generally a very minimal amount that an engine can easily tolerate; for the most part the gas is tar free. Our charcoal systems are 95% more self sustaining and generally only require an air / fuel mixture adjustment at the end of a hopper load. As far as tar? What does that tell you about raw fuel direct gasification? If it is possible with charcoal there is absolutely ZERO chance a direct fuel gasifier will ever be tar free.
At the end of the day, the charcoal system is 1/3 the complexity so about 1/3 the cost and way more compact. They are far more self sustaining, far more user friendly, less hands on / more efficient fuel processing when combined with heat and hot water applications. They crack ordinary water directly and are far less likely to produce tar ever. Spend your money wisely this will be a big investment! We've been there and We've done it! We made this transition for a reason and it is because direct gasification is inferior. Charcoal really is the better technology as a consumer grade product.
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