The release of oxygen from any coal primarily involves only three mechanisms : the shuttling of oxygen as an element in tar molecules; the simultaneous release of CO2, H2O, and small amounts of CO when labile bridges are converted into char links; and the release of CO from the residual oxygen in nascent char links at high temperatures. This modeling study characterizes these processes for heating rates from 0.5 to 10(4) K/s, temperatures to 1550 K, and pressures from 0.1 to 1 MPa. Evaluations against a database compiled from the behavior of 27 coal samples representing ranks from lignite to anthracite demonstrate that CO2, H2O, and CO yields plus the oxygen contents of tar and char can be predicted within useful tolerances throughout this domain. With Flashchain, no additional parameters or rate expressions are required to quantitatively predict the contributions from tar shuttling from any coal at any operating conditions. And the release rates of CO2, H2O, and low-temperature CO release are set equal to the previously evaluated formation rates of char links. Only one reaction rate expression (but no hypothetical ultimate yield parameter) is required to predict the yields and evolution rates of CO at high temperatures. This modeling approach departs from multiple, independent conversion channels for each gas product and instead recognizes the conversion of labile bridges into refractory char links as the fundamental process underlying the release of most of the oxygen-bearing noncondensible gases. As consequences of this premise, (a) oxygen is shuttled away in tars and simultaneously released as CO2 and H2O at all heating rates; (b) oxygen gas yields, especially H2O and CO yields, diminish in tandem with enhanced tar yields for faster heating rates or lower pressures; and (c) the onset of oxygen gas release shifts to higher temperatures for coals of progressively higher rank, particularly for low volatility coals. Production rates of high-temperature CO accelerate rapidly after the end of tar evolution, overtaking the production of CO2 and H2O from all coal types. CO is released over narrower temperature ranges for coals of progressively higher rank.