Results and discussions of the experimental works carried out to reduce the ash content and improve the ash characteristics of the lignite received by the coal-fired boiler in Afsin/Elbistan power plant are presented. Ash-making mineral matter crushed to -1.397 to +0.246 mm was reduced from 39.4 to 27.1% (dry basis) by means of a shaking-table operation. Tailings obtained from the tabling were admixed to the -0.246 mm fraction and further ground to -0.074 mm to improve liberation of the coal particles from the finely disseminated ash. The ash content of this fraction was removed by the fuel oil agglo-flotation method. The concentrates obtained by tabling and flotation were blended. A final clean product containing 29.8% ash with 4152 kcal kg(-1) net calorific value was obtained with 79.0% total cleaning recovery from the sample by this method. The effects of reduction in ash content and improvements in ash characteristics on the base/acid ratio, melting point and calorific values of the products were studied, and possible technical and economic aspects of the cleaning were discussed.