In this study, a bubbling fluidized bed combustor (BFBC) of 102 mm inside diameter and 900 mm height was used to investigate the combustion characteristics of peach and apricot stones produced as a waste from the fruit juice industry. A lignite coal was also burned in the same combustor. The combustion characteristics of the wastes were compared with that of a lignite coal that is most widely used in Turkey. On-line concentrations of O-2, CO, CO2, SO2, NOX and total hydrocarbons (CmHn) were measured in the flue gas during combustion experiments. By changing the operating parameters (excess air ratio, fluidization velocity, and fuel feed rate), the variation of emissions of various pollutants was studied. Temperature distribution along the bed was measured with thermocouples. During the combustion tests, it was observed that the volatile matter from peach and apricot stones quickly volatilizes and mostly bum in the freeboard. The temperature profiles along the bed and the freeboard also confirmed this phenomenon. It was found that as the volatile matter of fruit stones increases, the combustion takes place more in the freeboard region. The results of this study have shown that the combustion efficiencies ranged between 98.8 % and 99.1 % for coal, 96.0 % and 97.5 % for peach stone and 93.4 % and 96.3 % for apricot stones. The coal has zero CO emission, but biomass fuels have very high CO emission which indicates that a secondary air addition is required for the system. SO2 emission of the coal is around 2400-2800 mg/Nm(3), whereas the biomass fuels have zero SO2 emission. NOX emissions are all below the limits set by the Turkish Air Quality Control Regulation of 1986 (TAQCR) for all tests. As the results of combustion of two biomass fuels are compared with each other, peach stones gave lower CO and NOX emissions but the SO2 emissions are a little higher than for apricot stones. These results suggest that peach and apricot stones are potential fuels that can be utilized for clean energy production in small-scale fruit juice industries by using BFBC. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.