A new dewatering process vibration mechanical thermal expression (VMTE) process developed from mechanical thermal expression (MTE) process was studied in this paper. The enhancement of moisture content reduction of Zhaotong lignite by vibration in VMTE process under different temperatures and pressure was determined. Compared to MTh process, the dewatering efficiency was enhanced by 10% by VMTE process with a vibration force of 5 kN in tested range. The moisture content decreased from 1 to 0.19 (g/g) (db) under the most severe processing conditions. The investigation was carried out to identify how variations in vibration force affect the dewatering during the VMTE process. The vibration was proved to enhance the volume reduction of lignite samples which is closely related to the decrease of moisture content by accelerating particle compaction and the change of coal structure. The increase of vibration force in a special range resulted in more severe reduction of moisture content than that out of the range. The reduction of moisture content caused by the vibration force increase in the range from 1 kN to 4 kN was 3.6 times that in the range from 0 to 1 kN. A limitation of dewatering caused by the increase of vibration force was expected to exist (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.