The goal of this work is to introduce the flamelet model into large eddy simulation (LES) of realistic coal furnaces. A flamelet table based on two mixture fractions (for volatile and char off-gases) and enthalpy is generated and used in a massively parallel LES of the semi-industrial IFRF coal furnace (Weber et al. 1992 [1, 2]) for which comprehensive experimental data is available enabling the validation of the flamelet model under realistic conditions. Comparison between experiment and simulation is shown by means of averaged quantities of velocities, species concentrations and temperature. Overall good agreement between experiment and simulation could be obtained, giving evidence for the suitability of the flamelet model. The results of the LES are further analyzed, focussing on instantaneous particle and gas phase data to gain additional insight into the coal conversion process inside the furnace. (C) 2016 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All lights reserved.