High-efficiency Fe(II)EDTA (approximately 80%) was selected to remove nitric oxide (NO) in a complex adsorption process; subsequently, this Fe(II)EDTA was combined with the anammox process to eliminate the NO in flue gas. The Fe(Il)EDTA-NO solution negatively affected the conventional nitrite-dependent anammox bacteria when the solution concentration exceeded 0.5 mM. Fe(II)EDTA-NO-cultivated anammox bacteria removed the ammonium coupled to complex NO reduction (<= 3.5 mM). The batch test results demonstrated that NH4+ was eliminated through Fe(II)EDTA-NO reduction via anammox. The removal of complex NO and NH4+ exhibited high relativity relevance, and the Fe(II)EDTA-NO/NH4+ molar ratio was approximately 0.97. The complex NO-dependent process generates lesser nitrate than that generated by conventional anammox. Moreover, Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensitiensis became the dominant anammox bacterial community when the biomass is cultivated using the inoculated bacteria, and the proportion of the former increased to 90% from the initial 38% for ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis and library construction. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.