Abstract: Properties of activated coke (AC) are very important for preparing the V₂O₅/AC catalysts of high activity for flue gas SO₂ removal. Four ACs as the catalyst carrier are studied in this work, and the experiments include the measurements of SO₂ removal activity, oxidation activity and pore structure. The ACs are found to have few sites of high oxidation activity. The loading V₂O₅ leads to a high oxidation activity and much increased SO₂ removal activity. The well developed pore structure of the ACs is attributed to the high distribution of V₂O₅ and to the high oxidation activity. The SO₂ removal activity of V₂O₅/AC mainly depends on the AC's pore structure instead of its oxidation activity.