Soot oxidation with NO (in the absence of gas phase O 2 ) on potassium-supported Mg-Al hydrotalcite mixed oxides (K/MgAlO) was studied using a temperature-programmed reaction and in situ FTIR techniques. Nitrite and the ketene group were identified as the reaction intermediates and thus a nitrite-ketene mechanism was proposed in which surface active oxygen on K sites of K/MgAlO is transferred to soot by NO through nitrites. In the absence of gas phase O 2 , soot oxidation with NO at lower temperatures (below 450°C) is limited by the amount of active oxygen on the K sites. This kind of active oxygen is not reusable but can be replenished in the presence of gas phase O 2 .