A model of a bench-scale methanation reactor was set-up by modifying the classical two-phase model approach and introducing an additional bulk flow from bubble to dense phase to consider the volume contraction of the methanation reaction. The model uses experimentally determined kinetics and hydrodynamic correlations from literature. It was satisfyingly validated by comparing the calculated gas concentration profiles with the experimental data, especially with respect to initial reaction rates and reactor exit concentrations. A sensitivity study with respect to different bubble size correlations, mass transfer rates and considering or neglecting the bulk flow (influence of volume contraction caused by the methanation reaction) was carried out. It showed that the bubble size correlation by Werther and the resulting gas concentration profiles fit the measured data better than the computed gas concentration profiles using the bubble size correlation by Rowe. Neither a variation of the mass transfer coefficient nor neglecting the bulk flow in the fluidized bed model did yield further improvement of the calculated concentration profiles. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.