The agglomeration/defluidization may be produced to generate the secondary pollutant during incineration. However, the effects of agglomeration/defluidization on heavy metal distribution have rarely been examined. Therefore, the effects of the agglomeration/defluidization process on heavy metal emission in flue gas are studied. The artificial waste is employed to simulate municipal waste and to form agglomerates, which contain alkali metals, earth alkali metals, a mixture of metals (Pb, Cr and Cd) and sawdust. The fluidized parameters (including gas velocity, sand particle size and static bed height) are varied to determine their influences on heavy metal emission. The results indicate that addition of Na increases the risk of agglomeration/defluidization. but the emission concentration of heavy metals decreases during agglomeration/defluidization. The heavy metals may react with Na to form the eutectics or are covered and adhered by the liquid-phase eutectics of Na to stay in sand particle and lead to a decrease in the emission of heavy metals. The system was operated at a low gas velocity that not only easily resulted in agglomeration/defluidization but also increased the emission concentration of heavy metals. Large particles (920 mu m), which have a poor fluidized quality, had the highest emission concentration. Small particles (645 mu m) were uniformly fluidized to enhance the fluidization quality and to decrease the emission concentration. Additionally, adding Ca did not decrease the heavy metal emission concentration, but maintained the fluidization during eutectic accumulation. The Ca prevented the sand bed from quickly achieving defluidization and prolonged the increased emission of heavy metals after defluidization. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.