Abstract: The pyrolysis of original coal(a lignite from Inner Mongolia), acid washing deashed coal and calcium nitrate loaded coal was investigated in a small fixed-bed reactor, and the gasification activity with steam for different chars was compared as well. The results show that both coal pyrolysis and gasification processes are affected by addition of calcium nitrate. Calcium nitrate can obviously promote the pyrolysis reaction and change the release regularity and cumulative quantity of main gaseous products(H₂, CO₂ and CO); while the alkaline-earth metal as a catalyst can reduce the gasification activation energy and promote the char gasification with steam.