The use of a temperature programmed (TP) technique in coke characterization is discussed. Oxygen is one of the gases most often used in the TP technique (TPO) to infer coke types and coke locations on the catalyst. Additional information about the morphology of the coke deposits can be obtained when TPO is coupled with a kinetic model. This is because coke deposits with a tridimensional structure exhibit a coke reaction order increasing from close to 0 to approaching 1 as the oxidation reaction proceeds. The change in the coke reaction order can be observed with a properly designed partial bum TPO experiment. When the TP technique is used with an inert gas (TPI), one expects any product being generated would be hydrocarbon molecules. However, gasification of coke deposits to CO and CO2 was observed in the absence of external oxygen. It has been found that the oxidation products are the results of a direct reaction of the alumina surface hydroxyl groups with the coke deposits. Because of this, the maximum amount of coke that can be eliminated corresponds to the amount of hydroxyl groups on the alumina surface.