A novel gas-solids separator scheme of coupling cyclone with circulating granular bed filter (C-CGBF) was proposed. The influences of the operating regimes, the inlet dust concentrations and the inlet gas flow rates on the scheme were investigated in a pilot-scale cold-model experimental apparatus. The pressure drop and the collection efficiency were measured and analyzed. It was shown that, differing from that under the fixed bed (FB) operating regime, the pressure drop tended to assume a steady state after an increasing period under the moving bed (MB). Experiments under the MB revealed that stable/high collection efficiency, typically exceeding 95%, was achieved with considerably low pressure drop. The dust hold-up in the built-in granular bed and the filter cake formed on the outer screen wall contributed to high collection efficiency, as well as increased the pressure drop. Furthermore, the individual contribution of the cyclone shell and the built-in granular bed to the total collection efficiency under the MB were investigated. The size distributions of the captured particles were also analyzed. The contribution ratios of the cyclone shell were around 80%, while the majority of the particles captured by it were larger than 10 mu m.