Abstract: Apparatus for the distillation of sea water and desulfurization has a vessel directly contacting waste gases exhausting from a boiler with sea water for absorbing sulfur oxides contained within the waste gases, an oxidation device to convert the sulfites that are produced by absorption of the sulfur oxide into sulfates through a catalytic action of metallic ions in the sea water, a decarbonization device, a deaerator, and a heating type distillation apparatus that uses the sea water used for the desulfurization as supplementary water. The oxidation, desulfurization and the separation of air are processes conducted continuously.

Abstract: A waste flue gas desulfurizing method in which a waste flue gas containing sulfurous acid gas is contacted directly with sea-water, whereby the sulfurous acid gas is absorbed in the sea-water and concurrently sulfites are formed in the sea-water by the reaction between the sulfurous acid ions and metal ions present in the sea-water, and then the carbonic acid component contained in the sea-water which is then in the acidic region is released therefrom by a decarbonation operation to restore the pH value of the sea-water in the neutral region, and thereafter oxygen contained in air or from other source is introduced into the sulfite-containing sea-water to convert said sulfites into sulfates.