Several decades ago there were serious suggestions for smoke-ring blowing power stations in the UK.
The aim being to punch the smoke though a temperature inversion layer. I suspect that the idea would
have worked, but the clean-air act reduced/removed the need for it.
The idea seems to be being re-investigated.
Video shows trail for BIG's smoke-ring-blowing chimney
The idea of using vortex rings to gain height also seems to work very well at a much smaller scale, and is
the basis of the sphagnum mosses spore dispersion mechanism.
Exploding Moss Reproduces with a Bang