Although the uncontrolled air pollutant emissions from oil-fired power stations are substantially lower than those from coal-fired boilers, some emission controls are still required for large oil-fired boilers to meet emissions standards. Control devices similar to those used for coal-fired power plants are used for oil-fired power stations.

Mechanical collectors, electrostatic precipitators and fabric filters control particulate matter emissions. Wet scrubbing and spray dryers are common techniques used for reducing SO₂ emissions.

Due to the low amount of nitrogen present in fuel oils, the techniques for reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides are mainly controls on combustion (for example, flue gas recirculation, staged combustion, etc,); however, post-combustion NO_X control techniques are also applied, such as selective non-catalytic reduction and selective catalytic reduction [45, 46, 48, 50].