There are many ways the lessen the sulfur oxide emission and it depends from power plant to power plant. The common steps in reducing the sulfur emission are:
1. improved efficiency of conversion of fuel to electricity (this would reduce pollutant emissions per unit of electricity generated);
2. shift to nuclear generation as rapidly as possible since no sulfur oxide (or particulate) is emitted from nuclear plants;
3. shift fossil fuel plants to lower sulfur fuels;
4. removal of sulfur from coal before combustion, or of the sulfur oxide after combustion, but before it enters the stack: the techniques to be considered are
a. coal preparation (conventional and advanced technology);
b. solvent refined coal;
c. low sulfur, low BTU gas from coal;
d. fluidized bed combustion;
5. shift fuel consumption from electricity to pipeline grade gas made from coal or to solar energy.
