A novel method has been developed to remove elemental mercury from simulated flue gas by a diperiodatonickelate (IV) solution. The influencing factors, such as diperiodatonickelate (IV) concentration, reaction temperature, solution pH, the initial Hg-0 concentration, SO2 concentration and NO concentration were investigated at a bubbling reactor. In the presence of SO2 and NO, removal efficiency of 86.2% for elemental mercury was obtained. Meanwhile, 56.2% of NO and 98% of SO2 were simultaneously removed, under the optimal experimental conditions, in which diperiodatonickelate (IV) concentration was 6 x 10(-3) mol/L, reaction temperature was 50 degrees C, the initial Hg-0 concentration was 20 mu g/m(3) and pH was 8.5. Moreover, based on the research results of the hydrolyzing products of IO4-, and the analysis of the removal products of Hg-0, the reaction mechanism of Hg-0 removal was proposed. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.