The fluidization conditions of a rotating distributor applied to a 3-D bubbling fluidized bed was studied to assess its potential use as a counteracting measure of defluidization phenomena. The performance of the fluidized bed operating under nominal conditions was characterized for the rotating and the static distributor configuration. Different methods of analysis in the time and frequency domain were applied to establish the performance of the fluidized bed. The frequency domain analysis suggests some kind of local structuring of fluidized bed dynamics imposed by the distributor motion. The punctual injection of water over the surface of the bed lead to a high cohesive wet region that tend to settle down on top of the distributor giving rise to defluidization. The water-induced defluidization tests reflect an improvement of the fluidization quality with the distributor rotation. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.