The aims of this work were verifying the roles of various promoters in absorption andregeneration. In particular, we focus our attention on the oxidation properties of Ce, Co, and Feand regeneration property of Fe of the MgO-based sorbents. The MgO-based SO
2 sorbentspromoted with Ce, Co, Fe, and Cu were developed for use in RFCC and FCC units. Their abilityfor SO
2 absorption as well as regeneration was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor under RFCCand FCC reaction conditions. The promoters played an important role in transforming SO
2 intoSO
3, which could be easily absorbed into MgO. Their oxidation ability increased in the followingorder Fe < Co < Ce. In addition, their reuse through the regeneration of sorbents with hydrogenin a FCC unit depended on these promoters. In particular, the MgO sorbent which was promotedsimultaneously with Ce and Fe showed excellent characteristics in SO
2 removal and regenerationin that this material satisfies the requirements of a large amount of SO
2 absorption (ads. sulfurg/g sorbent) along with fast and complete regeneration under mild condition (1 atm, 530
C).