Granulation represents a significant operation within the particle processing industry. it is widely used in the pharmaceutical, agricultural and fertiliser industries. Approximately 60% of the products in the chemical industry are produced in granular form. The granulation of fertilisers was one of the most significant advances in the fertiliser industry. Despite the fact that significant advances have been made in the last decade in order to understand the underlying mechanisms of granulation and to simulate the granulation process, no dynamic analysis and validation of the complete granulation circuit has been reported in the literature. This work presents the challenges related to the sampling, simulation and validation of a granulation model based on a world-scale granulation plant. The data collected for validation were incorporated into an integrated dynamic modelling and simulation system. The validated models were then used to carry out sensitivity analyses by studying the influence of the process variables. The results proved to be in accordance with the industrial plant behaviour. The granulation circuit models can therefore be used with confidence to address key design changes, process optimisation and control strategies. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.