Abstract: Effects of hydrothermal treatment on swelling, extraction and liquefaction behavior of Shenhua coal were studied through analyses of element content, ash content, volatile content and IR spectrum of treated coal. The results indicate that hydrogenation of coal is distinctly carried out in the process of hydrothermal pretreatment and the hydrogen content of treated coal is more than that of raw coal. The contents of ash and volatile matters of treated coal are lower than those of raw coal. With the increase of treatment temperature the volatile content of the hydrothermal treated coal decreases and the ash content of treated coal increases. CO2 is main gas product and unvaries with the temperature changing, whereas CO and CH4 are formed when the temperature is above 250℃ and increase with the temperature during hydrothermal treatment. Hydrothermal treatment is not in favor of coal swelling and the swelling ratio of treated coal decreases with the increase of treatment temperature. The swelling ratio of extraction residue by CS2/NMP mixed solvent in NMP solvent is lower than that of the corresponding raw coal. The CS2/NMP mixed solvent extraction yields of coal treated at appropriate temperature are higher than that of raw coal, but the extraction yields of treated coal obtained by n-hexane, toluene and THF successive Soxhelt extraction are lower. Hydrothermal treatment at 250℃~300℃ can increase the conversion of treated coal in direct hydroliquefaction. The gas + oil yield of treated coal is lower than that of raw coal and the preasphaltene yield of treated coal is much higher. IR spectra of treated coals show that the forms of noncovalent bonds are changed by hydrothermal treatment, and the hydrolysis of ester and ether bonds and the pyrolysis of aromatic side chains also maybe occur at high treatment temperature.