In order to remove hydrogen sulfide from a synthetic gas produced in a gasifier, a two-stage process for the ultra hot gas cleaning was set up in this study. In the first stage the sulfur content of the gasified fuel gas was reduced from 10,000 ppmv to several ppmv in a fluidized-bed reactor. A fixed-bed reactor was used in the second stage for the removal of the residual hydrogen sulfide that remains less than 5 ppmv levels in the fuel gas. The suitable sorbents with high sulfur-removing capacity and long-term durability for each stage were also developed and their reactivity was investigated in the ultra hot gas desulfurization process incorporated with the two-stage process. Near-zero emission was achieved as a result of experiment in this study. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.