Abstract: Since 1980s,phosphorus chemical products,above industrial level,were taking the process route that using yellow phosphorus as fundamental raw material in China.In the production,2 800~3 200 Nm3 tail gas will be produced while producing every 1 t yellow phosphorus.Yellow phosphorus tail gas is rich in carbon monoxide and contains sulfur,phosphorus,arsenic,fluorine,cyanide,raw material dust,and other impurities.Current situation and importance of comprehensive utilization of yellow phosphorus tail gas,as well as the technical aspect of purification,were summarized.It was pointed out that it′s quite necessary to accelerate development of new techniques and technologies to adapt to different uses,namely remove the harmful impurities selectively to just meet the specific requirement of each target field so as to minimize the cost of tail gas purification.Carbon monoxide riching in tail gas of yellow phosphours can be used to develop many  pro-ducts,such as sodium formate,calcium formate,potassium formate,formic acid,methanol,and acetic acid after purification. 