An environmentally friendly and resource-conserving route to the clean production of electrolytic manganese was developed, in which the electrolytic manganese residue (EMR) was initially calcined for cement buffering; then the generated SO2-containing flue gas was managed using manganese oxide ore and anolyte (MOOA) desulfurization; at last, the desulfurized slurry was introduced to the electrolytic manganese production (EMP). Results showed that 4.0 wt% coke addition reduced the sulfur of calcined EMR to 0.9%, thereby satisfying the cement-buffer requirement. Pilot-scale desulfurization showed that about 7.5 vol% of high SO2 containing flue gas can be cleaned to less than 0.1 vol% through a five-stage countercurrent MOOA desulfurization. The desulfurized slurry had 42.44 g.L-1 Mn2+ and 1.92 g.L-1 S2O62-, which was suitable for electro winning after purification, and the purity of manganese product was 99.93%, satisfy the National Standard of China YB/T051-2015. This new integrated technology fulfilled 99.7% of sulfur reutilization from the EMR and 94.1% was effectively used to the EMP. The MOOA desulfurization linked the EMP a closed cycle without any pollutant discharge, which promoted the cleaner production of EMP industry. (C) 2019 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.