An experimental study has been carried out on the solids motion in a conical frustum-shaped vertical high shear mixer granulator by using the positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) technique. The mixer granulator has a vertical shaft attached to which are 4 sets of impellers at different elevations. The shaft is operated at 3, 6 and 12 Hz, which correspond to the top impeller tip speed of 2.1, 4.1 and 8.3 m/s. Particles are observed to circulate in both the horizontal and vertical directions. The period of horizontal circulation is short and is in the order of seconds, whereas that of the vertical circulation takes tens of seconds and often consists of lots of higher frequency fluctuations. There is a dominant solids motion in the tangential direction at all impeller speeds with the maximum tangential velocity 2.2-5.3 times that of the maximum axial and radial velocities. The maximum values of the three velocity components increase with increasing impeller speed, but the ratios of the maximum velocity to the tip speed decreases with increasing impeller speed, suggesting a rate-dependent behaviour. The particle flow pattern shows the presence of swirling flows at a position depending on the impeller speed. The results also suggest the existence of an optimal impeller speed that gives the best macroscopic mixing characterised by the vertical solids circulation. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.