This paper presents an experimental investigation of the effects of the exhaust tube vortex (ETV) on pollutant emissions and carbon burnout performance. The novelty in this study is to improve understanding of combustion behavior with the ETV structure via detailed in-furnace measurements (temperature, gas-phase species concentration, carbon burnout, emissions, and etc.) in a 16-kW_th coal-fired furnace. The experiment considered two different swirling flames (co- and counter-swirl) with four air staging positions. A hollow tubular structure such as the ETV structure has been created under the co-swirl condition. The values of NO_x emissions are about 430 ppm, but the CO emission is lower and carbon burnout is approximately 2% higher than that of the counter-swirl unstaging condition at the furnace outlet. For the air staging conditions, the air staging position 3 (SL₃) maintained the generated ETV structure stronger in the primary combustion zone. The SL₃ condition produced the lowest CO emission at about 275 ppm, and a relatively low emission of NO_x showed with the highest carbon burnout performance of approximately 94.5% or more. The SL₃ condition is the most favorable condition for the synergistic effect of air staging technology on the ETV structure with a low-NO_x swirl-stabilized burner.