Press
Release 3 - Antimatter
verses Coal Power Plants
February 14, 2003
Antimatter has significant advantages over
coal. A 100 Mw Antimatter Power Plant generates 876,000 million-watt hours (MWh) of electricity
and uses only 20 grams of antimatter (mass of four nickels) and a similar
quantity of matter. A 1,000 Mw Antimatter Power Plant generates 8.76 million
MWh of electricity and needs 200 grams of antimatter (mass of roll of 40 nickels) and a similar amount
of matter. The plants are estimated to have an 88 percent efficiency.
A typical Coal Power
Plant burns a metric tons of coal to produce 2.6 megawatt-hour (MWh) and has a
35 percent plant efficiency. The bituminous coal contains 45 to 86 percent carbon. The predominant combustion byproducts are carbon
dioxide, one metric ton per MWh of electricity generated plus other coal combustion
residues. As shown in the table, a standard 100 MW Coal Power Plant burns 337,000 metric tons and
produces about a million metric tons of waste; and
a 1,000
MW Coal Power Plant that burns 3.37 million metric tons and produces almost 10
million metric tons of waste.
|
Waste Products |
Thousands of
Metric Tons
100 MW Plant |
Millions of
Metric Tons
1,000 MW Plant |
Remarks
(70% carbon)
|
Carbon Dioxide
Coal Combustion Residues
- Fly Ash
- Bottom Ash
- Boiler Slag
- Wet FGD/1 scrubber solids/sludge |
876
25
6
15
54 |
8.76
0.25
0.06
0.15
0.54 |
|
| Total |
976 |
9.76 |
|
| 1/ Flue Gas Desulfurization
system sprays limestone and water mixture into the exhaust gas of a coal-fired boiler, which
reacts with the SO2 gas to form calcium sulfite or calcium sulfate
slurry. |
For 1,000 MW power plants, 200 grams of
antimatter (mass of a roll of 40 nickels) are uses verses 3.4 million
metric tons of coal, which generates 10 million metric tons of waste. When
antimatter becomes economical within the next ten to twenty years, antimatter should be used
for generating electricity; and coal should be used for making products to bring every
country into the 21st century.
|