Due to the adverse effects of SO2/NOx on humans and the environment, environmental regulations necessitate the control of their emission. In this study, an activated carbon monolith was synthesized with cobalt oxide (ACM-Co3O4) for the purpose of simultaneous SO2/NOx removal from flue gas generated by coal combustion. Average regeneration efficiencies of 92.7 and 94.2 % were obtained for SO2 and NOx, respectively. The Langmuir model can adequately describe the experimental results of the ACM-Co3O4 adsorbent in SO2 and NOx removal. The key regeneration parameters were optimized by using the response surface methodology (RSM). The RSM results revealed that the statistical prediction and experimental results were in agreement.