The time-averaged and transient local solid fractions in a gas-solid airlift loop reactor (ALR) were investigated systematically by experiments and CFD simulations. To demonstrate the macro-flow pattern, the time-averaged local solid fractions in four regions of the ALR were measured by optical fiber probe under the conditions of different superficial gas velocities and particle circulation fluxes. The experimental results show that the lateral distribution of time-averaged local solid fraction is a core-annulus or heterogeneous structure in the three regions (draft tube, bottom region, particle diffluence region), but a uniform lateral distribution in the annulus. The operating conditions have different effects on the lateral distribution of time-averaged local solid fraction in each region. In the CFD simulation, a modified Gidaspow drag model considering the formation of particle clusters was incorporated into the Eulerian-Eulerian CFD model with particulate phase kinetic theory to simulate and analyze the transient local solid fraction and the two-phase micro-structures in the gas-solid ALR. The predicted values of solid fraction were compared with the experimental results, validating the drag model. The contours of transient flow field indicate that the flow field of the ALR should be divided into five flow regions, i.e., draft tube, annulus, bottom region, particle diffluence region and constrained back-mixing region, which further improves the understanding of the airlift reactor where only four divisions were determined from the experiments. The transient local solid fraction and its probability density function profoundly reveal the two-phase micro-structures (dilute phase and emulsion phase or cluster phase in the constrained back-mixing region) and explain the heterogeneous phenomenon of solid fraction in the ALR. The dilute phase tends to exist in the center of bed, while the emulsion phase mainly appears in the wall region. The results also indicate that the gas-solid ALR has the common characteristic of aggregative fluidization similar to that in normal fluidized beds. The simulated two-phase transient micro-structures provide the appropriate explanations for the experimental core-annulus macro-structures of time-averaged local solid fraction. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.