<p> Sulfur oxides contained in the flue gas from coal- fired boilers are adsorbed by an adsorbent prepared by dry-distilling a portion of fuel coal satisfying at least one of requirements of an ash content lower than 15% by weight and a fixed carbon content of at least 50% by weight, thereby producing semi-coke, and activating the semi-coke by steam, and then the sulfur oxides-adsorbed adsorbent is heated to desorb the adsorbed sulfur oxides at a high concentration. The desorbed sulfur oxides are passed through a bed of semi-coke before the activation to recover the sulfur oxides as elemental sulfur.</p>
