The paper presents a mechanistic model to predict bed-to-wall heat transfer coefficient in the top region of a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) riser column by considering the riser exit geometry effects on bed hydrodynamics. With abrupt riser exit geometry, some solids will reflect back in to the riser column, thereby increasing the solids concentration in the top region of the riser column of a CFB. This in turn results in higher bed-to-wall heat transfer coefficients in the top region. At present, not much information exists in the literature to predict bed-to-wall heat transfer coefficient in the top region of a riser column with riser exit geometry effects. In the present work, a mechanistic model is proposed to estimate bed-to-wall heat transfer coefficient with riser exit geometry configurations. The length of influence of gas-solid flow structure from the riser exit due to various riser exit geometries is also presented. The solids reflux ratio is an important parameter, which influences the heat transfer rate in the top region. For the same operating conditions the bed-to-wall heat transfer coefficient increases with the abrupt riser exit geometry configuration compared to a smooth riser exit in the top region. The proposed model predictions are compared with the published experimental data for right angle exit configuration and a reasonable agreement is observed. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.