Iron ore sintering is the main SO2 emission process in iron and steel industry. The flue gas of iron ore sintering has been cleaned by desulfurization equipment, which causes high capital and operation cost. A novel technology of reducing SO2 emission of flue gas during iron ore sintering process by adding urea into granules bed was investigated in this paper. The results show that the emission concentration of SO2 in flue gas decreased significantly by adding urea loaded in the bed. The desulfurization rate higher than 85% was obtained when 0.05% urea was added in the bed at the height of 70-150 mm from the bed bottom, and there is no adverse influence on sintering indexes and final sinter quality. (C) 2016 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.