High temperature air combustion experiments for pulverized coal in a large-scale furnace have been done before and shown that the NO emission in the high temperature air combustion is significantly lower than that in the normal temperature air combustion. This paper numerically studies the NO evolution in the large-scale experiments with a simplified chemical reaction model. Through an analysis of numerical results a low NO emission mechanism in the high temperature air combustion has been presented. If the HCN concentration is high. the NO generation is fast. But, the hi.-h HCN and NO concentrations together will make NO destruction fast. It is found that, by properly arranging flow patterns, the high HCN and NO concentrations can be obtained in the vicinity of primary air nozzle. Thus, the generation and destruction of NO can reach an equilibrium point so that the net NO emission rate is low. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.