Abstract: A mathematical model of drying and preheating processes in a traveling grate was presented based on the laws of mass, momentum, heat transfer, and drying semiempirical relations. A field test was systematically carried out in a traveling grate. The effects of pellet diameter, moisture, grate velocity, and inlet gas temperature on the pellet bed temperature were studied. The average relative error between actual measurements and simulations is less than 7.97%, indicating the validity of the model.