Eric Kendall : A couple of things ! Yes this research has been done; mostly the people trying to make this work settled on making wood pellets.
Here is a link to one of the more ingenious D.I.Y. Efforts to fuel with wood chips - only slightly outside of your original questions ! /// Link Below :
While you are at the Bigelow Farms Site
subscribe and check out the Other Videos especially the
RMH on Steriods Video
This should give you a better idea what you can expect to achieve D.I.Y. Without re-inventing the Wheel ! Good luck and good hunting !
For the Good of the Crafts ! Big AL