Abstract: In order to investigate the swelling characteristics and the kinetics involved of coal particle during the oil slurry preheating process, a study is made of the swelling characteristics and kinetics of coal samples in different solvents using absolute ethanol, cyclic solvent and tetraline as solvents, and displacement sensor as swelling measurement device. Test result indicates that the coal sample in ethanol exhibits a rather stable swelling property and a reproducible result as evidenced by inactivity of the displacement sensor; whereas, in cyclic solvent and tetraline, the swelling ratio of the coal sample is seen to increase with the rise of temperature and reaches a maximum value at a temperature of 315 ℃. The swelling kinetics model developed based on the test result can be expanded for fitting the swelling data of coal samples in cyclic solvents and tetraline during the programmed heating process. Test shows a good fitting result with a high coefficient of determination can be obtained.