From time to time I have posted diaries discussing progress in the field of LENR, Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, previously known as Cold Fusion. This an important topic because our planet desperately needs a new source of energy that does not release carbon or radioactive waste. I am well aware that LENR is a very controversial topic and that the Daily Kos Community is a skeptical one when it comes to "free energy" so I have endeavored not to make a nuisance of myself and only to speak up when important developments take place.
So in keeping with that, this past week saw the long anticipated release of a new scientific report on Andrea Rossi's ECAT reactor.
To encapsulate the story, Rossi is a controversial inventor who in 2011 announced that he had developed a device, called the ECat, which used a previously unknown technique combining hydrogen and nickel to release a large amount of heat energy, far more than would be achieved by simply burning the hydrogen. He claimed that the reactor produced kilowatts of energy and would run for six months on a single charge. The reactor was about the size of a Mccormick spice jar and released no harmful radiation, despite the claim that a nuclear reaction of some sort was taking place.
Needless to say his announcement, other than being mostly ignored and not remarked upon, was greeted with tremendous skepticism because it appeared to violate the laws of physics. Most observers concluded that Rossi would soon be revealed as as fraud, or that he would beat a hasty retreat to an undisclosed tropical island as soon as he collected enough funds from gullible investors.
However, somewhat to the chagrin of the skeptics I am sure, the Rossi story has proven to have quite a set of legs and is still developing three years later. There have been quite a few fairly informal tests and demonstrations made, interesting but lacking in what would be considered proof. Rossi has apparently mostly spent 16 hour days aggressively working on his device, so that it now appears to be running much hotter and more reliably than when he first announced it in 2011.
In the spring of 2013 there was a report released by a group of seven university professors, detailing a "black box" evaluation of the device which showed that it emitted power at 4 to 5 times the level of electrical power put it. The testing procedure used a fairly well validated technique, employing an infrared camera to calculate the power output. The test ran for about 24 hours. "Black box" means Rossi presented the device for testing, but did not disclose what was in it or how it operated. The test was severely criticized because it was set up by Rossi and carried out on the premises of Rossi's lab, allowing plenty of opportunity for Rossi to trick the investigators, assuming they would be gullible enough to be tricked.
Then in the summer of 2013 Rossi's technology was acquired by Cherokee Investments, a venture capital firm with an interest in green technology, with two billion dollars in total capital. One may presume that the company would not have purchased Rossi's device if it didn't feel that the device had a reasonable prospect of being functional.
In the meantime the same set of investigators from Sweden and Italy set about a longer-running test that would answer some of the criticisms against the 2013 test. The results of this latest test were released last week, and the links are provided below. To summarize: this latest test was carried out in a private lab in Switzerland, facilities not associated with Rossi nor the investigators. The investigators provided the testing equipment and were present during the entire 32 days the reactor ran. Rossi was only there, monitored by the testers, to set up the reactor, put in the active fuel (which weighed one gram) turn on the reactor, turn it off, and remove the spent fuel. To provide calibration the reactor was first run for twenty-three hours without fuel, and the testers were able to show that their calculations of the output equaled the measured input.
To summarize the findings of the 32 day test: The COP (Coefficient of Performance) varied from 3.2 to 3.8. That would mean the output was from 3.2 to 3.8 times the input. The net energy released was about 1.5 MegaWattHours, more than would be released by burning 100 gallons of gasoline, from a fuel charge weighing one gram. It was still a black box test because Rossi did not let the investigators take apart the reactor nor the control electronics, but he did this time allow a sophisticated analysis of the fuel charge before the test, as well as the ash removed after the test was concluded. This led to some unexpected findings. The fuel consisted of nickel, iron and lithium aluminum hydride. The ash consisted of the same elements, minus the hydrogen that was apparently consumed, but the isotopic ratios of the lithium and nickel were found to be radically altered, indicating that a nuclear process had taken place. Careful measurement for any radioactivity emanating from the device was found to be negative.
Here is the link for the actual report: Observation Of Anomalous Energy Production
Elforsk is a Swedish organization that promotes research and development for Swedish electric utilities. Here is a statement made by the CEO of Elforsk upon the release of the ECat report. Elforsk supported the study:Elforsk Statement
Mats Lewan is a veteran reporter for the Swedish technology journal NyTechnik. He has been following the ECat story since its inception, while maintaining appropriate journalistic caution. Here is his blog concerning the new report: Mats Lewan Blog
I am not presenting this to Daily Kos readers with the claim that ECat technology has now been conclusively proven valid. There is still more than enough room for skeptical commentary, and the new report certainly does not avoid all the problems of the older ones. I am presenting it as a step along the road towards a promising solution for our planet's woes concerning energy availability and global warming.