In this study, a cold model of a circulating fluidized bed is developed and tested for designing a char combustor. This study has been carried out to investigate effects of the solid circulation rate and superficial gas velocity on the hydrodynamic characteristics in a circulating fluidized bed. Solid holdup and pressure drop in the riser increases with the increase of solid circulation rate, but decreases with increasing superficial gas velocity. The solid holdup in the dense region increases with increasing solid circulation rate at lower gas velocities, whereas it is independent of solids circulation rate at higher gas velocities.