Phenolic compounds from coal tar are precious chemicals, and the inherent mineral has important impacts on coal tar yields and composition during pyrolysis. Further understanding of the influence of mineral on phenols distribution and formation during coal pyrolysis is of vital importance. In this work, HCl-HF acid-washing was used to pre-treat the raw coals. The pyrolysis behaviors of three coals ranging from lignite to anthracite and their acid-washing residues were analyzed by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The influences of the metals removal on the phenolic compounds yields and distribution were revealed by pyrolysis-GC/MS (Py-GC/MS). Results indicate that demineralization does not change the coal structure. Samples pyrolyzed between 500 degrees C and 900 degrees C demonstrate that the total yields of phenol, o-cresol, m/p-cresol, 2,4-xylenol, 3,4-xylenol, 2,5-xylenol, 2,6-xylenol, beta-naphtha, and catechol reach the maximum at 700 degrees C for both the raw coals and residues. The total phenol yields of residue samples are higher than that of raw samples. The generation of catechol has an obvious dependency on minerals within 700 degrees C while minerals could influence the phenol and m/p-cresol yields significantly at relatively higher temperatures. It seems that minerals could promote the conversion of relatively bigger phenolic compound to smaller one. Fe2O3 and CaO catalyzed model catechol pyrolysis indicate that minerals were helpful to the crack of side chains of catechol and generation of smaller phenol. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.