An investigation was undertaken involving the combustion of high-ash coal/char particles under conditions suitable for pressurised fluidised bed combustion, in order to evaluate an overall combustion model. The use of very poor quality feedstocks (greater than 40% ash, low calorific value and high sulphur content) in conventional pulverised fuel combustors (PFC) could be technically difficult and uneconomical, and has the associated disadvantage of generating gaseous pollutants. Pressurised fluidised bed combustion (PFBC) which is an attractive alternative process and which uses millimetre-sized coal particles is increasing in use on a commercial scale and is the basis for several clean coal technology processes. A Thermogravimetic Analyser (TGA) was used for the experimentation, which was capable of handling relatively large coal/char particles at high pressures and temperatures. Experimentation with prepared coal/chars particles with a diameter of 3 mm at a pressure of 487 kPa and temperatures between 750 and 950 degrees C was carried out. For the determination of the overall kinetics of combustion it was found necessary to deviate from the established methods (surface-based reaction) and that it was essential to incorporate diffusion in the overall reaction model. Also, the concept of carbon concentration variation in the particle is introduced to account for the effect of high ash content (a mixture of carbon and minerals), instead of assuming pure carbon. This model, which consists essentially of a shrinking reactive core, was found to agree very well with experimental results and all relevant parameters required for an overall rate equation were evaluated. It is also shown that at high temperatures the shrinking reacted core model results approached the results obtained from the conventional shrinking unreacted core model. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.