In circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) boilers, some residual char is left in the ash when the ash is drained into the rotary ash cooler (RAC). The residue char will combust in the RAC given oxygen is present. It is important to understand and predict the influence of residual char combustion on the heat transfer process in the RAC in order to avoid slagging and fouling inside the RAC. In this paper, an improved heat transfer model of the RAC was developed in which the residual char combustion process was considered. Based on the analysis, the shrinking sphere model was selected to describe the residual char combustion. The improved model was validated by the final ash temperature and cooling water temperature data measured from a few RACs equipped with the coal fired CFB boilers with different steam output. The predictions of the improved model agree well with the field measurement data, within an error range of +/- 10%. The simulation results also show that the heat released from residual char combustion counts for about 60-80% of the total heat released by ash in the inlet section of the RAC, and the influence of residual char combustion decreases rapidly along the ash flow. The final ash temperature increases accordingly with the increase of inlet carbon content, and decreases with the increases of residual char size. As particle size is larger than 3 mm, the final ash temperature changes little at a given carbon content due to a low mass burning rate. It is suggested that combustion of residual char should be considered when the inlet carbon content is over 2.5%; otherwise, the combustion of residual char in the RAC could be neglected. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.