Method and apparatus for gasifying solid fuels

A method for the gasification of a solid fuel in a pressurized gasifier wherein the solid fuel undergoes compression by means of a reciprocating ram disposed at the entrance of a charging chamber that is interposed downstream of said ram and upstream of said gasifier, comprising the following steps:

• feeding the solid fuel into a first section of said charging chamber under atmospheric pressure conditions;
• advancing the solid fuel that was fed from said first section of said charging chamber into a second section of said charging chamber by means of said ram while at the same time compressing said solid fuel against the surface area of the internal wall of said charging chamber to form a crushed, packed mass of such density as to become a seal composed of the solid fuel itself in said second section, that is impervious to the flow of pressurized gases to thus maintain the operating pressure within said gasifier by preventing the flow of gases from said pressurized gasifier into the atmosphere via the first section of said charging chamber and complementing the action of compressing said solid fuel by including a mandrel disposed through the axis of said ram to provide additional surface area created by the circumferential perimeter of said mandrel to augment the surface area against which the solid fuel is compressed and moving said mandrel independently of said ram by advancing or retracting it in order to meet the required operating pressure of said gasifier;
• moving said seal from said second section of said charging chamber into a third section of said charging chamber by means of the pushing forces applied by the ram during the formation of a new and succeeding seal in said second section, thus displacing the previously formed seal from the second section to the third section of the charging chamber;
• discharging the displaced seal from said third section of said charging chamber into the pressurized gasifier located downstream of said charging chamber;
• and gasifying said solid fuel in said pressurized gasifier.