Abstract: This paper proposed a new method for the determination of chlorine in coal by Eschka's mixture decomposition-ion chromatography so as to satisfy the needs of determining chlorine content in coal samples in large batches in coal exploration, coal production and processing industries.Specifically, this paper improved the sample pretreatment steps and determined the experimental parameters.The detection limit of the method was 0.001 7 %, the relative standard deviations of ten parallel determinations of three actual coal samples were in the range of 1.08 % ~3.92 %, the recoveries of six spiked determinations were in the range of 98 % ~104 %, and the results of the three standard coal samples were all within the guaranteed values.Results showed that the detection limit of the method was lower than that of the national standard method, and the precision and accuracy met or exceeded the national standard method.The determination of chlorine in coal by Eschka's mixture decomposition-ion chromatography has the advantages of simple operation, low cost and high determination efficiency and could be widely applied in the batch determination of a large number of samples.