The fate of fuel nitrogen during the combustion or gasification of coal is a matter of practical and fundamental concern. During coal combustion, NO/sub x/ is known to form via HCN species released from the nitrogen-containing molecular components of the coal. During gasification processes, the release of nitrogen-containing fused ring compounds in evolved tar species is a matter of environmental concern. Since the thermal decomposition of the parent coal is an initial phase in both combustion and gasification, it is necessary to develop a knowledge of the fate of fuel nitrogen during thermal decomposition. This study contains results of an investigation of the evolution of fuel nitrogen during the vacuum thermal decomposition of coal. Results are shown for variations with coal characteristics and apparent thermal history. Apparent heating rates of 75 C/sec to 2000 C/sec and final temperatures of 500 C to 1780 C were utilized. A variety of coals were investigated ranging in rank from lignite to anthracite. The results indicate that nitrogen distribution in the volatiles is a sensitive function of the chemical characteristics of the parent coal. This distribution of nitrogen in the light gas, tar and char products of vacuum devolatilized coal is highly dependent on rank of the parent coal. Variations in nitrogen evolution with coal characteristics are most readily apparent in several aspects: (1) the coal nitrogen released with the tar species; (2) the release of nitrogen contained in primary tars as HCN upon secondary thermal decomposition reactions of the primary tars; (3) the retention of nitrogen in the char species.