A comparison study on the axial and lateral mixing of wide-size-distribution (WSD) particles with normal-size-distribution (NSD) FCC particles is presented. The fines smaller than 20 mum contribute 24.5% in volume in the WSD particles. Phosphor tracer method is used. The axial backmixing of the WSD is slightly lower than the NSD. However, the lateral solids Peclet number increases linearly with the increase of the content of fines smaller than 20 gm because of the serious agglomeration of the fines, which leads to very poor lateral mixing for the WSD particles. And the solids lateral mixing for the WSD particles decreases significantly with increasing solids fraction. These results show that the particle size and the particle-size-distribution is a very important factor that controls the lateral solids mixing and hence the heat and mass transfer in lateral direction, which should be taken into full consideration in the riser reactor. And the NSD may be a good particle size distribution for the FCC riser, the lateral solids mixing of which is satisfactory in the reactor. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.