Quantitative method is used to experimentally measure the minimum spouting velocity in shallow conical spouted bed. And a new minimum spouting correlation for shallow conical spouted beds is developed. It is based on spherical ZrO2 particles whose density is as high as 5890?kg/m3 while the other Ums correlations published so far are mainly based on relatively deep conical beds composed of lower density particles with density around or lower than 3000?kg/m3. The new Ums correlation can predict Ums of heavy particles well within the range of the experimental matrix. (C) 2011 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering