Five Australian black coals were studied in a bench scale pressurised fluidised bed combustor (PFBC) to investigate the agglomeration propensity. It was found that coals with higher proportions of calcium aluminosilicate showed higher propensity for agglomeration and defluidisation. The pressure-drop sintering technique can predict the agglomeration propensity for coals. Samples with a sintering temperature lower than the operating temperature of the PFBC showed agglomeration. The laboratory ash can be a good representative of the PFBC ash when studying agglomeration and defluidisation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.