The heat recuperator of a burner for an industrial furnace makes use of a substantially cylindrical body of ceramic produced by extrusion in which there are two interleaved sets of parallel channels, one set for the flow of combustion product gases out of the furnace and another set for the supply of air to be preheated in the recuperator and delivered to a combustion chamber coaxial with the recuperator and possibly located at least in part in the end portion of the cavity surrounded by the cylindrical ceramic body. The combustion product gases and the air being preheated flow in countercurrent and the disposition of the sets of channels facilitates heat transfer. The combustion chamber is constituted entirely of ceramic parts. A jet nozzle is provided on the outlet side of the combustion chamber and a fuel lance passing through the middle of the recuperator body and into the combustion chamber may also serve to adjust the jet nozzle by means of a valve body around its tip. Some of the air supply from the recuperator may discharge just outside of the combustion chamber so that a two-stage combustion may be provided, beginning with incomplete combustion in the combustion chamber.