Fast pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of pine sawdust (SD) and sub-bituminous coal (SB) were carried out in a free fall reactor. There is a gas-solid separator at the bottom of the reactor, where a controlled re-contact of the primary volatiles with the nascent char could be achieved. The experiments of the individual fuels with the volatiles-char re-contact resulted in increased tar yield and decreased the light hydrocarbon gas concentrations compared with that without the volatiles-char re-contact. During the co-pyrolysis of SD and SB, synergies were observed to have produced more tar at different biomass blending ratios (BR): Particularly, the re-contact of the volatiles-char effectively enhanced tar generation and suppressed water formation. The volatiles-char interactions promoted the tar generation mainly at the char bed temperature range from 600 degrees C to 700 degrees C. At the optimum condition with the BR of 0.50 and char bed temperature of 700 degrees C, the tar yield increased up to 28.7%. The co-pyrolysis and volatiles-char interactions favored the acidic components generation in the liquid products. Especially, the volatiles-char re-contact during co-pyrolysis improved the quality of tar by decreasing its asphaltene content. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.