In order to achieve the energy cascade utilization and improve the energy utilization efficiency of coal-water-slurry (CWS) gasification for hydrogen system, the heat integration scheme (HIS) between the water gas shift unit and the gasification unit is put forward. The effects of temperature change of CWS and oxygen on the gasification performance are investigated. Both the HIS and the non-heat integration scheme (NHIS) are analyzed by using gasification performance, energy conversion efficiency and exergy efficiency. The results show that the specific coal consumption and the specific oxygen consumption decrease by 2.7% and 6.5%, respectively, as the feedstock is preheated up to the temperature of 150 degrees C. The energy conversion efficiency of HIS and NHIS are nearly the same. The exergy efficiency of HIS (62.66%) is better than that of NHIS (62.02%). Therefore, the HIS is better than the NHIS by heat integration between the WGS unit and the gasification unit. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.