A model has been built to predict the evolution of sand drying in a conical spouted bed with a non-porous draft tube. Three regions have been considered in the model, i.e., spout, annulus and fountain, and unsteady-state mass balances have been written for water in the solid and gaseous phases. The model has been validated by comparing its results with the experimental ones obtained in a previous study and it allows predicting the moisture content evolution of both the air and the sand during the drying process. (C) 2011 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.