The simultaneous removal of 502 and NO from simulated flue gas by cerium oxide supported over palm shell activated carbon (Ce/PSAC) was studied in a fixed bed adsorber. The effects of adsorber temperature, presence of humidity, feed gas concentration and space velocity were studied as the process parameter. The results were illustrated as sorption breakthrough curves. From the experimental results, it was found that at higher space velocity, the SO2 and NO sorption capacity was reduced. Humidity enhanced the SO2 sorption capacity but deterred the NO sorption at percentage more than 15%. Temperature played an important role in the simultaneous removal of SO2 and NO by cerium supported over PSAC. The maximum simultaneous sorption capacity of SO2 and NO was achieved at temperature 150 degrees C with 121.7 and 3.5 mg/g, respectively. This study shows that cheap biomass based activated carbon can be a potential sorbent for simultaneous removal of SO2 and NO from flue gas. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.