The agglomeration of coal and coal ash in fluidized-bed gasifiers (FBG's) is of great interest in coal conversion. However, only limited work has been done to develop analytical models in order to understand ash agglomeration in FBG's. This paper focuses on two-particle collision dynamics, which is then used to develop a criterion for the agglutination of the two particles. The main assumption of this mechanism is that the binding force can be modeled as ''piecewise''conservative. This makes it possible to compute the maximum energy that can be dissipated by the system. Comparison of this quantity with the initial kinetic energy provides the agglutination criteria. A specific version of this model is obtained by making specific choices for the contact force and the binding force. An analytic formula for the critical velocity, the relative collision velocity below which agglutination takes place, is obtained for head-on collisions; a numerical technique is developed for collisions which are not head-on. A process change which increases the critical velocity increases the likelihood of agglutination of particles with random relative velocities. To examine the critical velocity as a function of temperature, the model requires correlations for the shear modulus and surface adhesiveness coefficient of the particles. Although these correlations are derived from limited experimental information, they lead to reasonable results and agreement with existing experimental data on agglomeration and defluidization. By considering the agglutination of particles of average size and temperature, a measure of the agglomeration tendency of a FBG can be obtained. Finally, the sensitivity of the model to system parameters is also investigated and an assessment of needed additional work is made. 35 refs., 12 figs.