The mercury removal performance of modified bamboo charcoal (BC) was investigated with a bench-scale fixed-bed reactor. A simple impregnation method was used to modify the BC with ZnCl2 and FeCl3 separately. BET and XPS were used to determine the pore structure and surface chemistry of the sorbents. The role of Fe3+ in the removal of elemental mercury by modified sorbents was discussed. The experimental results suggest that the modified BCs have excellent adsorption potential for elemental mercury at a relatively higher temperature, 140 degrees C. The BET surface area and average pore size of modified sorbents do not show noticeable priority compared to unmodified BC. XPS spectra indicate that Fe atoms mainly exist in the form of Fe3+ for the FeCl3-impregnated BC. Better performance of FeCl3-impregnated BC at different temperatures (20, 140 and 180 degrees C) suggests the enhancement of non-chloride functional groups (Fe3+). Inhibition effect of SOx and NO for Hg-0 removal by BC samples is present in the study. (C) 2015 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.