Understanding the mechanism of carbon oxidation is important for the successful modeling of diesel particulate filter regeneration. Carbon oxidation characteristics were investigated by temperature programmed oxidation(TPO) method as well as constant temperature oxidation(CTO) with a flow reactor including porous bed. The activation energy of carbon oxidation was increasing with temperature and had two different constant values in the early and the later stage of the oxidation process respectively in TPO experiment. Kinetic constants were derived and the reaction mechanisms were assumed from the experimental results and a simple reaction scheme was proposed, which approximately predicted the overall oxidation process in TPO as well as CTO.