Abstract: Staged pressurized oxy-fuel combustion of pulverized coal offers a novel approach to controlling nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions through the sequential organization of fuel pyrolysis, combustible oxidation, and nitrogen-containing species reduction. By integrating a fuel-rich fluidized-bed reduction reactor with a MILD char combustion oxidation reactor, this technology represents a novel low-NOx oxy-fuel combustion process for pulverized coal. A reaction kinetic model is developed for the fluidized reduction zone of the upstream bubbling fluidized bed in a staged pressurized oxy-fuel combustion system for pulverized coal. The model incorporates pulverized-coal pyrolysis, volatile release and combustion, char oxidation, fuel-nitrogen conversion and the homogeneous and heterogeneous reduction of NO. Experimental validation of the bubbling fluidized bed show the relative errors between the numerically predicted and measured outlet NO concentrations are controlled within ±13.17% for different coal types, excess air ratio and pressure, which indicates the model has good predictive accuracy and broad applicability. Comparison with kinetic models used by related studies in China indicates the model proposed by this paper predicts relatively stable axial distributions of gaseous species. In this reaction model, char-N conversion is the dominant pathway for NO formation, while the homogeneous and heterogeneous NO reduction rates are of comparable orders of magnitude. Further analysis shows that Shenmu bituminous coal produces lower NO emissions than Jincheng anthracite because it creates a stronger reducing atmosphere and consequently exhibited a greater NO reduction capacity. Pressurization significantly reduced NO emissions, though a diminishing marginal effect is observed: increasing the pressure from 0.1 to 0.4 MPa decreased the outlet NO mole fraction by 85.92%, while a further increase to 1.2 MPa resulted in a reduction of only 22.74%. These findings provide a theoretical basis for regulating the operating parameters and optimizing low-NOx emissions in staged pressurized oxy-fuel combustion of pulverized coal.