Fuel feed system for a gasifier

A gasification system comprising:

• a gasification plant comprising:
• a gasifier;
• and
• a char and fines handling device for recovering char and fine slag accumulated in the gasification plant as a dilute slurry;
• and
• a fuel feed system coupled in flow communication upstream of said gasifier, said fuel feed system comprising:
• a feed preparation section comprising:
• a grinding device for grinding a particulate fuel to a predetermined size;
• and
• a humidity control unit configured to adjust a humidity of an inert gas to control a moisture content associated with the particulate fuel;
• a pressurization and conveyance section coupled in flow communication with said feed preparation section, said pressurization and conveyance section comprising at least one solids pump configured to receive a flow of the particulate fuel at a first pressure and discharge the particulate fuel at a second pressure;
• a first conduit coupled in flow communication with said at least one solids pump, said first conduit configured to channel the pressurized particulate fuel to a feed injector of said gasifier;
• and
• a slag additive handling section comprising a pulverizer for pulverizing a mineral additive that is mixed with the dilute slurry received from the char and fines handling device to produce an additive slurry, the slag additive handling section further comprising a pump to feed the additive slurry into the feed injector of the gasifier and substantially control a total water content of a quantity of feeds into the gasifier by adjusting a concentration of the additive slurry fed into the gasifier, and further control melting and flow characteristics of a quantity of particulate fuel ash within the gasification system.