Abstract: An ammonia catalytic abatement apparatus and method having two types of catalytic converters in line, wherein the first catalytic converter preferably including platinum as the catalytic agent converts or reduces the ammonia in an ammonia laden gas stream to N2, H2O and approximately equal stoichiometric proportions of NOx and the remaining unconverted NH3. The second catalytic converter which preferably is a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst then converts substantially all of the NOx+NH3 to N2+H2O vapor. The ammonia laden gas stream is first heated to the reaction temperatures of the catalytic converters which in the disclosed embodiment is about 300° C. The disclosed apparatus further includes a recuperative heat exchanger which preheats the gas prior to the heating element.