TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The entrained flow partial oxidation reactor includes: a moving granular bed; and many blast inlet (118) ports configured around a periphery of a vessel enclosing the reactor. The fluidized bed reactor further comprises a freeboard (110), which is operated at a velocity controlled to create a generally consistent char particle size feed. The char particle is of consistent char particle size and at least a portion of the char particles is provided to the entrained flow partial oxidation reactor. The provision of the consistent char particle size comprises modulating a pressure of the fluidized bed reactor. The system further comprises a sand recovery cyclone; a cyclone for concentrating the char particles out of a fed gas stream prior to injection into the partial oxidation zone; and a media recycle system that returns the screened media to the entrained flow partial oxidation reactor. The entrained-flow partial oxidation reactor further includes a partial oxidation zone and means for injecting a stream of combined gas and char into the partial oxidation zone. The cyclone concentrates the char particles out of the fed gas stream prior to injection into the partial oxidation zone. The blast inlet ports is arranged in an alternating pattern such that: each of the blast inlet ports targets a tangent curve of a tangent circle; or a first or second one of the blast inlet ports targets a first or second tangent curve of a first or second tangent circle, respectively, where the first and second tangent circles are located at the same or different elevation. The moving granular bed operates in co-flow with respect to the stream of combined gas and char to create a gas-char contacting zone. The gas-media disengagement screen is oriented at an angle that is steeper than an angle of repose of the combined media and char mixture, or oriented substantially vertically. The gas-media disengagement screen includes many parallel wires extending between an upper frame edge and a lower frame edge. The wires include a cross-section partially defined by a first side that converges with a second side at a vertex in the direction of the disengaging gas flow. The cross-section is wedge shaped. Preferred Method: The method further comprises screening a portion of the filtering media to remove captured char particles, and returning the screened filtering media to the entrained flow reactor.