We were discussing SO2 emissions from Coal fired power stations in another thread. I was struck by the thought that just perhaps  if we could get CCS to work (and that's a big if), they could offer the possibility of mitigating the global warming trend or Australia's contribution to it. 

SO2 emissions normally cause acid rain, and in most cases, acid rain has had some devastating effects, especially in pine forests, where entire lakes in Northern Canada and Scandinavia  have been rendered totally devoid of life.

In Australia, most power stations are located in WA, which is separated by huge expanses of desert where emissions  disperse before arriving at highly populated areas, or on the Eastern seaboard where emissions will disperse harmlessly into the Pacific. I suspect that as a result, SO2 emission control is more lax in Australia compared to other parts of the world.

Thinking aloud, it's well known that sulphates and SO2 have a net negative forcing.  To determine whether there is a net advantage  will involve a consideration of the residence time and fate of CO2 in the atmosphere.

The emission figures for various Coal fired power stations is available on the NPI website.  What level of scrubbing efficiency are those emissions consistent with? I suspect that emission handbooks have been used to determine these figures, because I doubt of any of the Power stations have real time emission monitoring.   

So my question is whether or not there is an opportunity to mitigate carbon emissions by deliberately emitting more SO2, and to quantify this effect - ie how many tonnes of CO2- equivalent would this offset?

I'll try to collect the data

Comments? - Chimp?