Crystallization process in a fluidized bed reactor to remove fluoride from industrial wastewaters has been studied as a suitable alternative to the chemical precipitation in order to decrease the sludge formation as well as to recover fluoride as synthetic calcium fluoride. In the modeling, design and control of a fluidized bed reactor for water treatment it is necessary to study the particle growth kinetics. Removal of fluoride by crystallization process in a fluidized bed reactor using granular calcite as seed material has been carried out in a laboratory-scale fluidized bed reactor in order to study the particle growth kinetics for modeling, design, control and operation purposes. The main variables have been studied, including superficial velocity (SV, m s(-1)), particle size of the seed material (L-0, m) and supersaturation (S). It has been developed a growth model based on the aggregation and molecular growth mechanisms. The kinetic model and parameters given by the equation G = (2.26 x 10(-10) + 2.82 x 10(-3)L(0)(2))(SVS)-S-0.5 fits well the experimental data for the studied range of variables. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.