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[Ryan]

Hi All
I’m sure a lot of my questions have been answered here, but I haven’t managed to find much recent info.
I’m about to move up to Zimbabwe, where I have access to lots of wood waste, but very little electricity.
Ideally I'd like to build a gasifier connected to a generator putting out about 10kw. The trick is the gasifier will need to run nearly continuously.
One of the major costs of continuous operation will be the converted petrol or gas engine, I realise if I want an engine to last thousands of hours, I’m going to have to pay for it. or buy cheaper engines and replace / rebuild them often.
Another option I’ve thought of is to use the gasifier to run a small steam engine
With a steam engine we then have questions of efficiency, quite apart from the difficulties of getting / building a steam engine
Will I get more heat / tonne of wood by just feeding the steam engine with wood, and forget about the pollution?
Do I build an up draught gasifier where the tars will be burned in the fire?
Or do I build a GEK, and use the clean gas to produce steam?
My Main question at this point is, Is it possible to run a gasifier such as a GEK for extended periods?
Assuming I use an auger to fill the hopper at the correct rate, Add an automated grate shaker and build the gasifier out of appropriate materials what is the longest run I could hope for?
Thanks all

Ryan