In this study, an investigation was carried out into the thermal behaviour of coal, petcoke and their blend as a generic feedstock in combustion and IGCC plants for energy production. The samples were pyrolysed in a TG analyzer in nitrogen atmosphere (constant flow of 0.0335 m/s) at several heating rates with temperatures ranging from 300 to 1223 K. The distributed activation energy model was applied to study the effects of heating rates on the reactions of single solids. The results obtained were used in the calculation of curves mass loss vs. temperature at more realistic heating rates. The algorithm used to obtain the distribution of reactivities for single solids was successfully implemented to allow the prediction of blends performance. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.