The annual SO, emission is approx. 0.6 million tons in Hungary because of the high amount of sulphur in the power plant coals. Since Hungary has signed the European Environmental Agreement, the high sulphur emission has to be gradually reduced. To overcome the acid rain problem, the biodesulphurization of Hungarian power plant coals has also been started in Hungary. The R&D programe of biodesulphurization has been launched in 1990. According to our findings the biodesulphurization process is a suitable tool for reducing the pyritic sulphur content in lignite and sub-bituminous coal.