The laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) and conductivity probes were used for measuring the local hydrodynamic performances such as gas holdup and liquid velocity in a lab-scale gas-liquid-TiO2 nanoparticles three-phase bubble column. Effects of operating parameters on the local gas holdup and liquid velocity were investigated systematically. Experimental results showed that local averaged axial liquid velocity and local averaged gas holdup increased with increasing superficial gas velocity but decreased with increasing TiO2 nanoparticles loading and the axial distance from the bottom of the bubble column. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed in this paper to simulate the structure of gas-liquid-TiO2 nanoparticles three-phase flow in the bubble column. The time-averaged and time-dependent predictions were compared with experimental data for model validation. A successful prediction of instantaneous local gas holdup, gas velocity, and liquid velocity were also presented. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.