This work presents heat extraction characteristics in a pilot-scale thermal flow reversal reactor dedicated to the mitigation of ventilation air methane escaping from coal mining and the recovery of residual heat. The heat extraction mode arranged on both sides of the central zone was applied. The influence of flowrate, concentration and reversing time on comprehensive heat transfer performance were investigated through experiments. The temperature evolutions and the quantitative relationship between temperature evolutions and heat extraction were predicted through simulations. The experimental results show that low flowrate is susceptible to establishing rapidly initial temperature field. The heat recovery rate and generated superheated steam increase with concentration and varies parabolically with switch time. The optimum heat extraction is that heat recovered is slightly greater than or close to the stored heat. Therefore, the heat extraction research involved in this paper will provide a reference for other low-grade waste fuels in industrial applications.