A new concept for evaluating chemical kinetics data of combustion of coal char particle is proposed. The experimental rig based on the measurement of mass loss of the char particle during the combustion process has been designed and built. The char particles are dropped into a laminar carrier gas stream flowing in a narrow horizontal channel. Temperature and gas composition inside the channel are fully controlled and correspond to those encountered in industrial furnaces and boilers. The idea of the measuring method is to trace the falling particle in the carrier gas, retrieve the mass reduction rate from the curvature of the recorded trajectory of the particle, and measure its diameter. An original technique of determining the diameter using a medium resolution camera has been developed. The kinetic constants are evaluated using an original inverse technique. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.