Tar produced in the gasification of coal is deleterious to the operation of downstream equipment, including fuel cells, gas turbines, hot-gas stream cleanup filters, and pressure-swing absorption systems. Catalytic cracking of tars to smaller hydrocarbons can be an effective means of removing these tars from gas streams and, in the process, generating useful products, such as methane gas, which is crucial to operation of molten carbonate fuel cells. Aerosol tars are not readily removed from gas streams by conventional means and, as a consequence, often end up plugging filters or fouling fuel cells, turbines, or sorbents. Catalytic cracking of these tars to molecular moieties of C{sub 10} or smaller would prevent the problems commonly attributed to the tars. As an example, the moving Bourdon fixed-bed gasifier, by virtue of its efficient countercurrent heat exchange and widespread commercial use, may offer the lowest-cost integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) system if tar generation and wastewater contamination can be minimized. We evaluate the potential of selected catalysts to minimize tar accumulation and maximize char conversion to useful liquid and/or gaseous products. Owing to the potential for production of extremely toxic nickel carbonyl gas, care must be exercised in the use of a NISMM catalyst for cracking tars at high temperatures in reducing atmospheres such as those produced by coal gasification. We observed a fifty percent or more of tar produced during steam gasification of Beulah lignite at temperatures of 400{degrees}-800 {degrees}C when cracked by either dolomite or zeolite maintained at a temperature of 50{degrees}C-100{degrees}C below that of the reactor.