ABSTRACT: Coal gasifiers are required to operate at very high temperatures, >1600°C, for long periods of time, > 13 months (10,000 hours) Fig.1. Under these conditions the refractory lining of choice is high chrome refractory. During operation coal contaminants form a liquid slag that run down the chamber walls which can react with the refractory walls. Albany Research Center has designed a series of experiments to understand the slag-refractory interactions, with the intent of eventually being able to reduce or minimize the problem and thereby extending the gasifier operation time before relining. To understand the slag-refractory interaction, elemental components of the slag have been allowed to react with the refractory under simulated gasifying conditions. The interactions have been characterized using X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, elemental x-ray mapping, and quantitative microanalysis.