The catalytic destruction of NH3 and SO2 has been examined over a series of alumina supported transition metal oxide catalysts in the laboratory. It was found that alumina supported vanadium oxide is the best candidate for this reaction. These studies show that employing a feed containing 4% NH3 + 3% SO2 and a residence time of 0.75 s at 700 degreesC, conversions of 100 and 87.7% for NH3 and SO2, respectively, can be achieved over fresh alumina supported vanadium oxide with the main products being only N-2, water and sulfur. The effect of pretreatment of the catalyst by sulfidation was also examined in this study. Based on these results it was shown that feeding a simulated industrial sour water stripper gas (SWSG) plus oxygen over alumina supported vanadium oxide at 750 degreesC with a residence time of 4 sec, resulted in an NH3 conversion of 100%, while no SO2 was detected in the products. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.