Patent ID: 8919265

Claim:
A method comprising: gasifying fuel in an internal chamber of a gasifier in a manner creating liquefied slag within the internal chamber, the internal chamber comprising a main combustion region that comprises a slag opening having a bottom perimeter edge, the gasifier comprising a slag removal device and slag breaker having a face, the bottom perimeter edge of the slag opening being higher than the face of the slag breaker, the gasifier comprising an annular air inlet that is vertically between the face of the slag breaker and the bottom perimeter edge of the slag outlet solidifying the liquefied slag into solidified slag within the gasifier by introducing air radially inward via from the annular air inlet in a manner causing slag stalactites to form from the bottom perimeter edge of the slag opening; operating an actuator in a manner causing the face of the slag breaker to move into contact with the solidified slag in a manner causing the solidified slag to break into chunks of solidified slag that then fall into a slag collection region of the gasifier; and operating the slag removal device of the gasifier in a manner expelling at least some of the chunks of the slag in the slag collection region from the gasifier.