The present study describes catalytic cracking experiments developed in a novel CREC Riser Simulator using 1,3,5-Tri-iso-propyl-benzene and two FCC catalysts with different crystal sizes (0.4 and 0.9 mum diameter). The experiments are modeled using an unsteady state model for both gas and catalyst phases. It is found that a quasi-steady state approximation can be used for the catalyst and changes in the gas phase can be accounted, under the allowed model simplifications, with a relatively simple unsteady state equation. The model is completed using two catalytic decay models, with one of them involving a decay function based on "reactant converted". Experimental and modeling observations point towards an overall cracking reaction rate controlled by diffusion at 350-450degreesC with this rate shifting to one being controlled by the intrinsic cracking reaction at 500-550degreesC.