The so-called micro-fluidized bed reaction analyzer (MFBRA) that enables the evaluation of rapid chemical reactions was used to investigate the NO reduction characteristics by biomass tar agent in terms of its activity and efficiency for reducing NO. Biomass char was used as a comparative reduction agent in this study. The employed biomass tar and char were made from pyrolyzing distilled spirit lees (DSL), a massive fermentation waste generated in China. The results showed that the NO reduction defined for the same mass (10 mg) of reactant was more efficient for tar than for char. The identified peak NO reduction efficiency (inlet: 1800 ppm) was high as 73.8% for 10 mg tar but only 39.3% for the same amount of char. Testing the NO reductions by five typical model tar compounds including acetic acid, toluene, phenol, naphthalene and 1-hydroxy-naphthalene demonstrated that all these components contributed to the capability of tar for NO reduction. The article estimated as well the kinetic parameters of NO reduction by tar based on the MFBRA-measured data according to the isothermal differential approach, finding that the apparent activation energy of NO reduction reaction by tar was 122 kJ/mol. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.