Using a shock tube facility the combustion characteristics of pulverised char (< 10 mu m) were measured. A prediction was made for the burnout behaviour of a commercial sized char particle (75-90 mu m) in different ambient conditions using a ＇pseudo kinetic＇ approach. In this approach the kinetic rate of a surface containing micro pores is determined and these ＇pseudo kinetics＇ are then applied to the larger particle not taking into account the micro pores. Comparison of the predictions with measurements done with an isothermal plug how reactor showed this approach to be valid within experimental error for low burnout. A linear decrease of the kinetic reaction rate with burnout is shown to predict the burnout behaviour in the complete range of burnout. A possible explanation for this linear decrease could be a growing fraction of non-combustible material in the char particle during burnout.