Despite its abundant supply, tobacco stem has not been exploited as an energy source in large scale. This study investigates the combustion behaviours of tobacco stem in a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) and a pilot-scale fluidized bed (FB). Combustion characteristics, including ignition and burnout index, and combustion reaction kinetics were studied. Experiments in the FB investigated the effects of different operating conditions, such as primary air flow, secondary air flow and feeding rates, on the bed temperature profiles and combustion efficiency. Two kinds of bed materials cinder and silica sand were used in FB and the effect of bed materials on agglomeration was studied. The results indicated that tobacco stem combustion worked well in the FB. When operation condition was properly set, the tobacco stem combustion efficiency reached 94%. In addition, compared to silica sand, cinder could inhibit agglomeration during combustion because of its high aluminium content. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.