Abstract: The principle of pulse fast-thermal neutron analysis (PFTNA) is introduced. PFTNA is mainly composed of the pulsed neutron generator and the BGO detector. The low calorific value of coal is measured. The multiple linear regression method is applied to deal with data solving the interferential problem of multiple elements. The results show that the error of low calorific value by PFTNA comparing with the chemical analysis is less than 0.4 MJ/kg.