One way to upgrade iron ore is to process it into pellets. Such a process includes several stages involving complex fluid dynamics. In this work the focus is on the grate-kiln pelletizing process and especially on the rotary kiln, with the objective to get a deeper understanding of itsthe aerodynamics. A down-scaled, simplified model of a full-scale kiln is created and both a numerical and an experimental analysis of the flow field are performed. Conclusions are that steady state simulations can be used to get an overview over the main features of the flow field. Precautions should though be taken when analysing the recirculation zone since the steady state simulations do not capture the transient, oscillating behaviour of the flow seen in the validation experiments, which affects the size of the recirculation zone.