The feasibility of using coal-water fuels (CWF) in gas turbine combustors has been demonstrated in recent pilot plant experiments. The demands of burning coal-water fuels with high flame stability, complete combustion, low NO/sub x/ emission and a resulting fly ash particle size that will not erode turbine blades represent a significant challenge to combustion scientists and engineers. The satisfactory solution of these problems requires that the variation of the structure of CWF flames, i.e., the fields of flow, temperature and chemical species concentration in the flame, with operating conditions is known. Detailed in-flame measurements are difficult at elevated pressures and it has been proposed to carry out such experiments at atmospheric pressure and interpret the data by means of models for gas turbine combustor conditions. The research was carried out in five sequential tasks: cold flow studies; studies of conventional fine-grind CWF; combustion studies with ultrafine CWF fuel; reduction of NO/sub x/ emission by staged combustion; and data interpretation-ignition and radiation aspects. 37 refs., 61 figs., 9 tabs.