A model of lignite devolatilization in a wire-mesh apparatus is proposed in this paper. The model couples the heat transfer between grid and particle with a multiple-reaction kinetic model. The kinetic parameters are derived from the experiments, in which two Chinese lignites are devolatized. The model predictions of heating-rate and particle-size dependence of particle temperature, devolatilization rate and weight loss are presented. An index is suggested to assess the cumulative effect of heat transfer limitation on devolatilization. The model reveals that under a typical condition (particle size 50 mum, heating rate < 1000-degrees-C s-1), the heat transfer limitation could be negligible. However, with further increasing particle size and heating rate, the heat transfer limitation seems to become somewhat important.