Hydrogasification reaction of chars produced from two rank coals was investigated in temperature up to 1173 K and pressure up to 8 MPa. The reactivity of the lignite Szczercow char has been found to be slightly higher than of the subbituminous coal Janina char produced at the same conditions. A high value of the char reactivity was observed to certain carbon conversion, above which a sharp drop takes place. It has been shown that to achieve proper carbon conversion the hydrogasification reaction must proceed at temperature above 1200K. Based on the active centres theory the kinetic equations of the hydrogasification process were developed and the kinetic constants at the maximum reaction rate evaluated for the analyzed chars. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.