The present study investigates gas residence time and mixing characteristics for various swirl numbers generated by injection of secondary air into a lab-scale cylindrical combustor. Fine dust particles and butane gas were injected into the test chamber to study the gas residence time and mixing characteristics, respectively. The mixing characteristics were evaluated by standard deviation value of trace gas concentration at different measurement points. The measurement points were located 25 mm above the secondary air injection position. The trace gas concentration was detected by a gas analyzer. The gas residence time was estimated by measuring the temporal pressure difference across a filter media where the particles were captured. The swirl number of 20 for secondary air injection angle of 5$^{circ}$ gave the best condition: long gas residence time and good mixing performance. Numerical calculations were also carried out to study the physical meanings of the experimental results, which showed good agreement with numerical results.