Abstract Fuel cells are viable alternatives as power backup systems for mini-grids. In this work a case is considered, where the hydrogen fuel to the fuel cells is supplied from biomass gasification. However, the producer gas obtained from biomass gasification needs to be cleaned of impurities and contaminants. In this work we examined the superiority of the hot producer gas cleaning, which results in a better thermal efficiency since the heat loss from the system is reduced. In order to have a viable hot cleaning process, sulfur should be removed at 800°C and this was shown possible by promising primary data from the experiments where H2S was removed down to an acceptable level.