It is important to adapt utility boilers to sub-bituminous coals to take advantage of their environmental benefits while limiting operation risks. We discuss the performance impact that Adaro, an Indonesian sub-bituminous coal with high moisture content, has on opposite-wall and tangentially-fired utility boilers which were designed for bituminous coals. Numerical simulations were made with GLACIER, a computational-fluid-dynamic code, to depict combustion behavior. The predictions were verified with full-scale test results. For analysis of the operational parameters for firing Adaro coal in both boilers, we used EXPERT system, an on-line supervision system developed by Israel Electric Corporation. It was concluded that firing Adaro coal, compared to a typical bituminous coal, lowers NOx and SO2 emissions, lowers LOI content and improves fouling behavior but can cause load limitation which impacts flexible operation. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.