A multifunctional scrubber (MFS) has been developed to reduce the complexity of flue gas cleaning plants. The MFS integrates an oxidizing scrubber equipped with a dioxin-absorbing tower packing material and a space charge electrostatic precipitator. All these processes have been previously developed at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. In the described multifunctional scrubber, mercury, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF), and submicrometer particles are removed simultaneously. A MFS pilot plant with a flue gas volume flow of 250 m(3)/h has been installed in a slipstream of a waste incineration pilot plant. Pilot scale testing was performed to measure mercury, particles, and PCDD/F in the raw and clean gas. After optimization of the process these three flue gas components were separated from the flue gas in the range 87-97%.