A range of different soot regeneration conditions has been explored using laboratory scale catalysed soot filters, loaded on a state-of-the-art common rail diesel engine. The concurrent effect of oxygen feed rate (manageable both by flow rate and by oxygen concentration) and of heat removal, strictly linked to exhaust flow rate and temperature, was investigated. It has been observed that oxygen plays a major role in defining the oxidising reaction rate and determining possibly dangerous thermal peaks. Nevertheless, especially at high flow rate, the heat removal capability of the gas flow significantly increases the differences between the reaction behaviour at different oxygen contents. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.