Use of a fluidized bed is an important design option if advantage is to be taken of the lower operating temperatures that catalytic coal gasification offers. Catalytic gasification, however, has been conducted with fixed bed systems whose performance is often quite different from that expected from fluidized beds. Experiments were performed in a microfluidized bed with continuous overflow to compare rates of coal gasification or pyrolysis, and rates of formation of the product gas components with and without an impregnated Fe catalyst. A Forestburg (Alberta) subbituminous coal was used. Variables were bed temperature, coal feed rate, and catalyst loading. The Fe catalyst becomes active above 750-degrees-C in the overflow fluidized bed regardless of catalyst loading, but the catalytic activity of the ash in the coal obscures the Fe contribution below 800-degrees-C. Coal pyrolysis occurs as the coal enters the bed so it is a devolatilized char that is gasified. Methane found in the product gas arises only from coal pyrolysis. Under the conditions used, methanation does not take place over Fe. For this high-ash coal, an optimum catalyst loading was observed at 3-5 wt % Fe based on the carbon in the coal.