The effects of reaction temperature, oxygen/coal and steam/coal ratios and residence time on coal gasification performance in entrained flow were determined by means of a drop tube reactor (0.05 m.i.d. x 1.0m high). The H-2/CO molar ratio decreases with increasing reaction temperature and the H-2 + CO content of the product gas exhibit a maximum around the ash fusion temperature. With increasing O-2 content, carbon conversion increases and the rate of production of H-2 and CO increases initially to a maximum value. The optimum O-2/coal ratio is in the range 0.6-0.9 for different coals. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.