Microwave reactor with ammonium bicarbonate (NH4HCO3) and zeolite was set up to study the simultaneous removal of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NO,) from flue gas. The results showed that the microwave reactor filled with NH4HCO3 and zeolite could reduce SO2 to sulfur with the best desulfurization efficiency of 99.1% and reduce NOx to nitrogen with the best NOx purifying efficiency of 86.5%. Microwave desulfurization and denitrification effect of the experiment using ammonium bicarbonate and zeolite together is much higher than that using ammonium bicarbonate or zeolite only. NOx concentration has little effect on denitrification but has no influence on desulfurization, SO2 concentration has no effect on denitrification. The optimal microwave power and empty bed residence time (EBRT) on simultaneous desulfurization and dentrification are 211-280 W and 0.315 s, respectively. The mechanism for microwave reduced desulfurization and denitrification can be described as the microwave-induced catalytic reduction reaction between SO2, NOx and ammonium bicarbonate with zeolite being the catalyst and microwave absorbent. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.