The combustion behaviour of coal is significantly influenced by its rank and maceral and microlithotype compositions. Different macerals, due to their distinct and unique physical properties and chemical makeup, have different burning characteristics. This paper deals with the burning behaviour of coals of Indian origin by then-no gravimetric analysis (TGA) and in drop tube fumace (DTF) with particular emphasis on the role of macerals and their associations. Four coals of different rank and petrographic makeup, along with their two density fractions, with enriched vitrinite and inertinites, respective lywere studied in both TGA and DTF. The burnout behaviour was estimated from the chemical analyses of the char samples collected from the DTF. The burning characteristics of one of the coals deviate from the trend expected with the variations of rank. The behaviour of the density fractions in DTF was found to be different from that observed in TGA analyses. An attempt has been made to correlate the burnout with the petrographic macerals and microlithotypes present in the coals. The morphology of the residual chars indicates the contributions of the inertinites towards the formation of cenospheres and network types of reactive chars. The superior burning behaviour of the higher density inertinite-rich fractions over the raw coals and also some vitrinite-rich fractions indicate the better reactivity of the inertinites towards combustion. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.