An method of operating a plant includes the steps of feeding a reagent to a direct contact heating device (32) for removing ammonia from fluid fed to the direct contact heating device (32), feeding water to the direct contact heating device (32) to contact the fluid after the fluid is contacted with the reagent fed to the direct contract heating device (32), and feeding the water from the direct contact heating device (32) to a water wash tower (20) that is downstream of a carbon dioxide absorber (14) configured to use ammonia to remove carbon dioxide from fluid fed therein. The water wash tower (20) can be configured to remove ammonia from the fluid fed therein prior to that fluid being fed to the direct contact heating device (32). A plant and an apparatus for integrating desulfurization and carbon capture are configurable to implement the method.