The hydrodynamic characteristics of a spray column for oil-water system have been investigated in the present work in a column of 5 cm inner diameter and 250 cm height, operated in a semi batch manner. The effect of dispersed phase flow rate and nozzle diameter on different hydrodynamic parameters such as drop diameter, dispersed phase hold up, terminal rise velocity and jetting velocity has been studied. It has been observed that the drop diameter, dispersed phase hold up, terminal rise velocity and jetting velocity increase with an increase in nozzle diameter. Also, dispersed phase hold up increases with dispersed phase velocity whereas terminal rise velocity and drop diameter show a marginal dependency. Correlations have been developed, using nonlinear regression, for the prediction of drop diameter, dispersed phase hold up, terminal rise velocity and jetting velocity. (C) 2011 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.