Direct combustion of biomass fuel is an efficient means of renewable energy utilization. Biomass particles are generally non-spherical, which affects their combustion properties. The particles either in prolate or oblate spheroid shapes are involved in this paper. Using the ellipsoidal coordinates, a theoretical study is conducted on the char combustion of the spheroidal particle under forced convection. Expressions for the char combustion rates of both prolate and oblate spheroids are obtained in diffusion controlled and diffusion-kinetics controlled regimes. The char combustion rate for the spheroidal particle is influenced by the Sherwood number for gas particle mass transfer. It is enhanced by the increase in the particle aspect ratio for both prolate and oblate spheroids with the same surface area. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.