The initial stages of the devolatilization of three United Kingdom pulverized coals have been studied in a coal-laden turbulent air jet emerging into the combustion gas environment produced by a methane-air flat flame burner. The temperature range provided by these flames was between 1670 and 1870 K and the corresponding particle heating rate was about 105 K/s. Data are reported for major gas species concentrations, particle weight losses, and nitrogen released, which quantify the effects of gas temperature, particle size, and coal type. Overall, the results show that the rate of devolatilization increases with temperature, significantly decreases with particle size and that the composition of the volatiles released is a strong function of the structure of the parent coal. The fuel nitrogen release is correlated to the total volatile yield. The formation of fuel-NO depends on the extent of the nitrogen release and the coal particle combustion mechanism. The turbulence intensity has an important effect on the extent of devolatilization; hence the total weight losses detected in the present experiment exceed those found under nonturbulent conditions.