The vertical spindle mill (VSM) is the key equipment to realize the preparation of 0–1 mm fuel used in powdered-coal-fired circulating fluidized bed combustion technology (PC-CFB). In this paper, a pilot-scale VSM test system was set up to explore the feasibility and operating performance of coarse-grained pulverized coal preparation. The effects of loading force, table revolution rate, and ventilation rate on the product size distribution, as well as the energy consumption of the grinding process were emphatically discussed. The results show that the product size of VSM increases with the decrease of loading force and the increase of ventilation rate, but too small a loading force will affect the normal output of VSM. Additionally, the product size of VSM decreases firstly and then increases with the increase of table revolution rate. Further, the energy consumption of the powdered coal preparation process was quantitatively described, and a semi-empirical model of comminution energy based on the powdered coal particle size distribution was proposed and verified by the measured values with an average accuracy of ±30 %. This model can estimate the power consumption of the mill, which can be used as an input parameter of the heat balance calculation model for the PC-CFB pulverizing system.