Commercial vanadia-based full-length monoliths have been exposed to aerosols formed by injection of K3PO4 (dissolved in water) in a hot flue gas (T > 850 degrees C) from a natural gas burner. Such aerosols may form when burning fuels with high K- and P-content, or when P-compounds are mixed with biomass as a K-getter additive. The formed aerosols have been characterized by using both a SMPS system and a low pressure cascade impactor, showing a dual-mode volume-based size distribution with a first peak at around 30 nm and a second one at diameters >1 mu m. The different peaks have been associated with different species. In particular, the particles related to the 30 nm peak are associated to condensed phosphates, whereas the larger particles are associated to potassium phosphates. Two monoliths have been exposed during addition of 100 and 200 mg/Nm(3) K3PO4 for 720 and 189 h, respectively. Overall, deactivation rates up to 3%/day have been measured. The spent catalysts have been characterized by bulk chemical analysis, Hg-porosimetry and SEM-EDX. NH3-chemisorption tests on the spent elements and activity tests on catalyst powders obtained by crushing the monoliths have also been carried out. The catalyst characterization has shown that poisoning by K is the main deactivation mechanism. The results show that binding K in K-P salts will not reduce the rate of catalyst deactivation. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.