The desulfurization behavior of novel Fe and Fe-Mo sorbents supported using Chinese lignite chars for desulfurization of hot coal gases was investigated and compared. The desulfurization experiments were carried out using a fixed-bed quartz reactor over a temperature range of 673 K to 873 K in simulated coal gas containing 0.47% H2S and 0.047% COS. The product gases composition and chemical phases of sorbents were analyzed using a gas chromatograph and X-ray diffractometer, respectively. The results show that iron and Fe-Mo sorbents supported on lignite char demonstrated high desulfurization efficiency under the present experimental conditions. The sulfur capacity of iron-based sorbents is determined by the amount of iron contained in the sorbents and the addition of Mo into the iron-based sorbents effectively improves the desulfurization efficiency of char-supported iron sorbents. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.