Abstract: Combustion experiment was carried out with a lignite from Junggar,west China at different temperatures in a drop tube furnace.The C1s and O1s spectra from pulverized Junggar lignite and their chars were evaluated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).It was shown that the carbon functional group contained a very small amount of graphitized carbon and some ether or hydroxyl group.Oxygen functional group was combined with inorganic oxygen and organic oxygen and the organic oxygen content was relatively higher.During combustion the increase of graphitized carbon and π—π* carbon corresponded to a decrease of single-bond carbon and double-bond carbon.