I'd
like a small version of one of these for turning my garden waste to
electricity. I haven't read the full details, but basically it heats or
roasts wood chip to make gas which runs an engine and drives an
electrical generator, producing heat as a by-product. Gasification was
the process used from the 18th century up until the early 60s for making
gas from coal, i.e. coal gas. This was stored in large tanks called
gasometers. The process was superseded by gas production from naptha, a
waste product of the petroleum industry and eventually in the 80s, we
started using cleaner natural gas or methane from natural deposits such
as the Kinsale Head gas field.
Gasifier gas driven engines were used in the UK for running cars and buses during WW2 when petrol was in short supply.