Solvent extraction is a potential technique for the production of coal-derived extracts which may be suitable as precursors for value-added carbon products. At present. the development of new and non-conventional markets for coal has resulted in the exploration of new applications such as slurry fuels, coal-based graphites, carbon-carbon composites and carbon anodes. However, for carbon products to perform acceptably in such applications, the ash content of the precursor must be less than 0.1%. Although, work to produce a low-ash (ca. 0.2%), low-sulfur coal-derivcd material had begun about a decade ago through solvent extraction using the solvent NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone), it was practically impossible to produce a coal-dcrivcd extract containing less than 0.2% ash. This is due to the presence of ultra-fine mineral matter particles and solvent soluble inorganic species. The principal objective of the present work was to investigate techniques for the separation of the coal-derived extract from the NMP-coal suspension after solvent extraction and to produce a ultra low-ash precursor. The significant