The use of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3) as a solid reactant for the removal of acid pollutants in industrial flue gas streams is a simple and effective process solution. Nonetheless, despite its technological maturity, the industrial application of NaHCO 3-based flue gas treatment is still highly empirical. A better knowledge of the heterogeneous reaction process could allow process optimization, resulting in a reduction both in the consumption of reactants and in the generation of solid waste products. In the present study, the reactivity of NaHCO 3 toward HCl and SO 2 was investigated in the temperature range between 120 and 300°C. The key role of thermal activation in determining the reactivity of the sorbent was confirmed. The choice of the optimal temperature for acid gas sorption results from a trade-off: higher temperatures increase the reaction kinetics, but induce the sintering of the activated sodium carbonate. The occurrence of sintering is particularly detrimental for high removal efficiency toward SO 2 , possibly due to the role of the sodium sulfite layer originated by SO 2 sorption. As a consequence, the optimal operating temperature resulted as 150°C for SO 2 and 210°C for HCl. The choice of operating temperature in industrial dry sorbent injection units for acid gas abatement is discussed in view of the present findings.