A series of Polish bituminous coals of different rank, contaiing 0.37-4.0 wt.% sulphur, was subjected to pyrolysis at 1000°. A decreasing trend in the extent of sulphur removal by high-temperature pyrolysis was observed with increasing coal rank. The effectiveness of pyrolysis in sulphur removal appeared to be related to the proportion of the non-thiophenic sulphur to the total organic sulphur in the coal.