The effects of coal moisture on heating rate and product distribution for pyrolysis of coal in a fixed-bed reactor with or without internals were investigated. The results showed that the reaction time in the reactor without internals is approximately twice of the time in the reactor with internals. With utilization of internals to enhance heat transfer and regulate the pyrolysis gas flow direction inside the reactor

increasing the coal moisture content prolonged the time that required to heat up the coal at the bed center to the preset temperature and increased the light tar content

whereas the tar yield tended to first increase and then decrease and the yields of pyrolysis gas and water tended to increase. In contrast

there was not dramatic difference in the reactor without internals when varying the coal moisture. At a heating furnace temperature of 900℃

the increase of coal moisture from 0.41% to 11.68% (mass) increased the tar yield from 9.21% to 10.74% (mass) for the reactor with internals

but when the coal moisture content increased further to 15.93% (mass) the tar yield decreased to 10.26% (mass). The variation trend with coal moisture content in the average pyrolysis gas composition was similar for both reactors

and the higher heating value (HHV) became lower when the coal moisture increased.