Abstract:The Demonstration of Key Technologies for Clean and Efficient Utilization of Low-rank Coal, one of the Strategic Priority Research Programs carried out by Chinese Academy of Sciences （CAS）, has been initiated to develop a new staged-utilization solution of low-rank coal. The pyrolysis of low-rank coal is one of the key technologies and a lot of scientific,technical and engineering challenges need to be addressed. Since the 1970s, many countries have carried out a large number of scientific and technical researches about coal pyrolysis, but there is still not large-scale commercial operation of coal pyrolysis technology. Therefore, it is highly needed to have deep insight into the scientific and technical issues of coal pyrolysis and thereby to achieve innovation ideas in process design and engineering development in order to commercialize the pyrolysis technology of low rank coal. This paper begins with an introduction of the structural characteristics of low-rank coal and a description of the potential difficulties in coal pyrolsyis. In turn, the paper presents a simple review on the experienced developments for coal pyrolysis technologies and a highlight of the new process ideas for pyrolysis under development in CAS.