Preheating stage of direct liquefaction of Yunnan lignite (YN) and Hami sub-bituminous coal (HM) in tetralin at temperature range of 200-350 degrees C was investigated under nitrogen atmosphere. In order to reveal the product characteristics and hydrogen transfer between coal and solvent during preheating process, thermo-gravimetric analyzer coupled with mass spectrometer (TG-MS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer (GC-MS) were employed. The results show that yields of light products, i.e., oil, gas, and water, increase with raising temperature during the preheating process. YN and HM achieve 51.69% and 44.19% (daf) light products yields at 350 degrees C, respectively. Moreover, oxygen-containing functional groups, such as carboxyl, ethers, and alcohols in raw coal are reduced after preheating. In addition, hydrogen transfer achieves a perceptible extent even at 200 degrees C and the amount of transferred hydrogen increases with raising temperature. A positive dependence of hydrogen transfer on conversion is observed during preheating stage. Comparing the two coal samples, YN obtains higher conversion and hydrogen transfer due to its higher thermal reactivity at this temperature range. However, HM achieves higher oil yield than YN does at 350 degrees C since high hydrogen transfer amount and H/C ratio of raw coal promote the oil yield. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.