During thermal power coal-fired boiler operation, it is very important to detect the pulverized coal concentration in the air pipeline for the boiler combustion stability and economic security. Because the current measurement methods used by power plants are often involved with large measurement errors and unable to monitor the pulverized coal concentration in real-time, a new method is needed. In this paper, a new method based on microwave circular waveguide is presented. High Frequency Electromagnetic Simulation (HFSS) software was used to construct a simulation model for measuring pulverized coal concentration in power plant pipeline. Theoretical analysis and simulation experiments were done to find the effective microwave emission frequency, installation angle, the type of antenna probe, antenna installation distance and other important parameters. Finally, field experiment in Jilin Thermal Power Plant proved that with selected parameters, the measuring device accurately reflected the changes in the concentration of pulverized coal.