In the present investigation, blends of two varieties of bamboo biomass with low-rank high-sulfur coal were prepared in different proportions. To assess their suitability as a fuel, pyrolysis and combustion experiments were carried out by using thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA), and various reactivity parameters were obtained from TGA data. Chemometric analysis, correlation, and principal component analyses (PCA) were used to correlate the physioco-chemical with fuel properties of blends. Most of the fuel properties of these blends depend upon the proportion of parent material in blends. Activation energies of blends during pyrolysis were found within the range as reported for other biomass and coal blends. However, activation energies of blends during combustion are lower than those reported for other biomass and coal blends. Chemometric analysis shows that blends with coal to bamboo ratio 50:50 are more suitable for pyrolysis and combustion purposes with lower sulfur emissions. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 33: 315-321, 2014 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]