CuO/Al2O3 is capable of removing SO2 and NOx from flue gas simultaneously at around 400 degrees C. After the SO, removal, the SO2-adsorbed CuO/Al2O3 needs to be treated to regenerate its SO2 removal capacity and to recover the removed sulfur. This paper reports recent research on direct formation of elementary sulfur during H-2-regeneration of the SO2-adsorbed CuO/Al2O3 through recycling of the regeneration tail gas. In such a way, the SO2 removal, the sorbent-catalyst's regeneration and elementary sulfur recovery can be carried out in a single reactor. The operating parameters studied include the amounts of H-2 fed into the reactor, H-2 feed strategy and O-2 treatment of the H-2-regenerated CuO/Al2O3. An intermittent H, feeding mode is found to give a higher elementary sulfur yield (91%), less residual sulfur-compounds in the system after the regeneration, and higher SO, capacity in the subsequent SO2 removal process. An O-2 treatment after the H-2-regeneration improves the elementary sulfur yield further and results in a number of other advantages. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.