In this paper, Yangquan anthracite was separated into three different coal lithotypes in terms of density. The effect of high-temperature crystallite growth on char combustion of coal is characterized. It shows that there is large difference between the combustion characteristics of the two lithotypes of coal (one is < 1.55 g/ml of density and the other is 1.55-1.855 g/ml), and that the development of structural ordering decrease the combustion rate to a certain degree. The precise method of using thermogravimetry analyser to study the kinetics of char combustion reaction is also discussed. Besides, a feasible measure to process the experimental data is introduced. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.