The reduction of sulphur dioxide to sulphur was carried out on an industrial scale as early as 1928 in Norway and 1936 in Canada. A number of plants have been closed for economic reasons, mainly because of the preference for the production of sulphuric acid. However, the conditions in South Africa are favourable for the conversion of part of the locally produced sulphur dioxide to elemental sulphur; the remainder could be converted to sulphuric acid by existing processes. A major problem with the reduction of sulphur dioxide is the simultaneous production, at high conversions of the gas, of significant quantities of contaminants such as hydrogen sulphide and carbonyl sulphide. Testwork is reported in which char from Rand Carbide was used to reduce a gas stream comprising 20 per cent sulphur dioxide in nitrogen. It was found that, under certain experimental conditions, conversions of up to 90 per cent could be attained without the production of contaminants. Passivation of the char appears to be a potential problem, and higher temperatures are required to achieve a high conversion of sulphur dioxide with char that has been partly utilized. At temperatures up to 850 degrees C, the reaction appears to be of zero order, with the rate controlled by chemical reaction.