To improve flammability and radiation efficiency, a divergent porous media combustor is proposed and numerically studied. The local thermal non-equilibrium model is used to consider the temperature difference between gas and solid matrix. Effects of equivalence ratio, the wall thermal conductivity, solid matrix thermal conductivity, and divergent ratio on combustion characteristics, radiation efficiency, and flammability limits are studied. The results show that the divergent channel extends the blowout limit by 186% and obtains a maximum radiation efficiency of 29.3%, increased by 70% compared with the straight channel. A smaller wall thermal conductivity is recommended considering the flammability range and radiation efficiency. A careful choice of solid matrix thermal conductivity and the divergent ratio is suggested to balance their opposing effects on the radiation efficiency and the flammability. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.