The effect of coal washing on trace element content and combustion behaviour of four world-traded coals has been studied at rig scale. The inputs and process outputs from a 1 MW combustion test facility, including coal, bottom ash, suspended fly ash, retained ash and flue gas, have been analysed for a standard suite of 17 trace elements. The results suggest that although coal cleaning significantly reduces the total ash content of the coal, the concentrations of individual trace elements are not reduced proportionately. Combustion of the washed coals resulted in increased concentrations of trace elements in the fly ash, although total fly ash loadings were reduced. Cleaning appeared to have little effect on concentrations of gaseous trace elements in the flue gas. The partitioning of the more volatile trace elements such as mercury and selenium between the vapour and solid phase was influenced by the amount of excess oxygen in the furnace, presumably affecting carbon-in-ash levels. The results suggest that the coal cleaning undertaken for these experiments did not significantly reduce the emissions to atmosphere of trace elements. The ultimate emissions will be determined by the efficiency of the dust capture systems.