These proceedings are the collected manuscripts from the 1985 Lignite Symposium held at Bismarck, North Dakota on May 21-23. Sponsorship of the thirteenth biennial meeting was by the United States Department of Energy, the University of North Dakota Energy Research Center, and the Texas University Coal Research Consortium. Seven technical sessions were held during the two and a half day meeting. The final half day included tours of the Great Plains Gasification Plant; Basin Electric's Antelope Valley Power Station; and the Freedom Mine. Sessions covered diverse topics related to the technology and use of low-rank coals including coal development and public policy, combustion, gasification, environmental systems for low-rank coal utilization, liquefaction, beneficiation and coal mining and coal inorganics. Twenty-four papers have been entered individually into EDB and ERA.