The gasification characteristics of natural coke from Peicheng mine with steam were investigated in a fluidized bed reactor. The effects of catalyst type, composition and dosage of catalyst on the yield, components and heating value of product gas, and carbon conversion rate were examined. The results show that fluidized bed gasification technology is an effective way to gasify natural coke. Also the results indicate that individual addition of K-, Ca-, Fe-, Ni-based catalyst effectively increases the gasification reaction rate of the natural coke samples. With the increase in catalyst dosage, the yield and heating value of product gas per hour increase obviously, and carbon conversion rate is improved substantially. Each of aforementioned catalysts has similar catalytic effect and trend, among which the effect of Ca-based catalyst is a little weaker. The optimum metal atom ratio of mixed catalyst is Fe/Ni/others = 35/55/10, and the mixed catalyst displays maximum catalytic performance when the catalyst dosage in the natural coke is about 4%. The experimental findings provide an interesting reference for large-scale development and utilization of natural coke. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.