Nitrogen in coal is a major pollutant that inhibits the effective and extensive utilization of coal, and hence, nitrogen removal during and after coal combustion is of great importance. Future utilization of coal requires accurate knowledge of its structure and properties. Datong coal (DT, bituminous coal), Huolinhe coal (NM, brown coal) and Fushun coal (FS, brown coal) were pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed reactor under argon atmosphere with a heating rate of 15• C/min. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the presence of nitrogen in the coals and their chars obtained from pyrolysis. The nitrogenous components in the product gases were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer. The results indicate that N-5 is the main nitrogen-bearing compound in DT coal and NM coal, whereas in FS coal N-6 is the main nitrogen-bearing compound. After pyrolysis at 600• C, the quantity of N-6 in the char rises for DT coal, and drops for NM coal and FS coal. After pyrolysis at 1000• C, the quantity of N-6 decreases significantly for FS coal, and considerable quantity of N-Q is detected. NH 3 , HCN, and NO were identified among the gases resulting from pyrolysis, with the HCN and NO yields being lower than the NH 3 yields. In coal pyrolysis, the initial formation temperature of NH 3 is approximately the same as that of HCN. The temperatures are almost identical when the concentrations of NH 3 and HCN reach their maxima for DT coal and FS coal. The formation of HCN starts at a temperature of about 400• C, and below 700• C, considerable amounts of HCN and NH 3 are produced. The amount of nitrogen released increases with the temperature at which pyrolysis takes place, the maximum release rate being 81.28% at 1000• C.