The paper describes the results of various actions and industrial tests conducted in order to decrease the content of unburned carbon in the fly ash of a circulating fluidised bed combustor (CFBC). Several attempts to improve the situation were made and the effects of several parameters on the unburned carbon content in the fly ash were investigated (e.g. bed temperature, cyclone separation efficiency, fuel particle size distribution, boiler hydrodynamics, grid design, and fuel data). Unfortunately, no satisfactory solution to these problems was found. Probably, apart from attrition and char fragmentation, additional factors also contributed to the formation of unburned carbon in the CFBC fly ash.