Energy conversion of fossil fuels or waste products to electricity and heat through clean and efficient combustion processes continues to be an issue of international importance. The Controlled Profile Reactor (CPR) is a small scale (0.2-0.4 MW) combustion facility that has been used to obtain data for model validation, the testing of new combustion concepts, and the development of new combustion instrumentation The CPR has a cylindrical, down-fired combustion chamber, 240 cm long and 80 cm in diameter. This review of the past ten years of research completed in the CPR includes a description of the reactor and instrumentation used a summary of three experimental data sets which have been obtained in the reactor, and a description of novel tests and instrumentation. Measurements obtained include gas species, gas temperature, particle velocity, particle size, particle number density, particle-cloud temperature profiles, radiation and total heat flux to the wall, and wall temperatures. Species data include the measurement of CO, CO2, NO, NOx, O-2, NH3, and HCN. The three combustion studies included one with natural gas combustion in a swirling how, and two pulverized-coal combustion studies involving Utah Blind Canyon and Pittsburgh #8 coals. Most, but not all of the above measurements were obtained in each study. The second coal study involving the Pittsburgh #8 coal contained the most complete set of data and is described in detail in Section 3 of the paper. Novel combustion instrumentation includes the use of Coherent And-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (CARS) to measure gas temperature. Novel combustion experiments include the measurement of NOx and burnout with coal-char blends, The measurements have led to an improved understanding of the combustion process and an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses associated with different aspects of comprehensive combustion models.