Breathless in Bologna: Waiting for News on Big E-Cat Test

Final Update 2100 EDT:This after-test report from Pesn.com is worth looking at for anyone interested in what actually happened today. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but now that the 1 MW E-Cat device is apparently to be transferred to new ownership, one might assume that such questions will be answered via extensive testing. One of the most important questions will be answered once we discover the identity of Rossi's mystery customer.

Update 1500 EDT: According to Peswiki Twitter, the mysterious US customer is satisfied with the test results, and is shutting down the reactor. Reportedly the sale was made based upon 470 kW maintained throughout several hours of self-sustain mode. H/T Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture

More: Brian Wang points to an Andrea Rossi update on his blog, reporting that the test was proceeding according to expectations as of 10:37 AM. The "full test report" is expected tonight. Updates have been less frequent than expected, and we may have to wait until after markets close in NYC to learn much more. The AP news organisation is the only official media representative present, and an official news blackout is in force for the duration of the test. Rossi's "secret US customer" will not allow photographs of its engineers, who are conducting the test.

The reason for the embargo on taking photos was personnel reasons. They don't want the engineers and testers to be shown, to keep them confidential. The company doing the testing does not wish to be known at this time. A quick comment from the AP writer who is here. The lack of coverage from the mainstream media is not due to lack of interest but from the lack of cooperation from Andrea Rossi. He has turned a lot of media away who have wanted to come in. The AP writer has gained Rossi's trust over time, and hence was invited to be here today.Rossi will be sending us all the data this evening _FreeEnergyTruth Update

1 MW E-Cat In a Shipping Container
At this time, Andrea Rossi's 1 MW LENR E-Cat reactor is being tested by "a large industrial entity" which has contracted with Rossi to buy the device if it meets specifications. After several days of tuning the reactor, Rossi communicated yesterday that he is ready for the test.

Meanwhile, professor Sergio Focardi has affirmed on video that the E-Cat device will revolutionise the entire world of energy over the next 150 years. Here is further information about the work of James Patterson, the inventor of a parallel LENR system with some similarities to Rossi's device.

Here are some speculations from Mark Gibbs on how a working E-Cat -- and similar devices -- might change the world:

1. Where today you use petroleum products for motive energy (for example, to propel cars, trucks, and planes) you will be using steam engines or Stirling engines. In theory you’ll be able to drive across the country for cents. What will that do to the trucking industry? The shipping industry? Aviation?
2. With the demand for gasoline falling overnight and petroleum becoming needed primarily as feedstock for plastics, the US would immediately become self-sufficient in crude oil. What will happen in the Middle East without the huge flow of cash from the Western hemisphere? How will world politics be changed?
3. An E-Cat system could power your house or office making the existing grid obsolete. What would it mean to make your personal and corporate electricity and gas bills nearly zero?
4. The cost of manufacturing would fall very quickly with energy removed from the equation. If you are in manufacturing of any kind, this will affect you enormously. How fast could and how would you rework your corporate strategy to become competitive in a market where prices suddenly plummeted (note that the suddenly reduced cash flows would play havoc with the finance structures of many corporations). _Mark Gibbs

Here is an interesting video discussion by Edmund Storms on the potential of certain biological micro-organisms to catalyse the isotopic transmutation of radioactive isotopes to non-radioactive isotopes. If such LENR transmutation reactions take place within micro-organisms, then such microbes would have to be considered the smallest self-contained nuclear reactors on the planet.

There is a distinct "Alice in Wonderland" flavour to this entire episode, which will grow even stranger and more surreal should Rossi's 1 MW E-Cat actually pass its test. Since the test is being administered by a skeptical customer who is contractually obligated to hand over a large amount of cash if the reactor lives up to its advance billing, a passing grade on this test will mean something.

Al Fin energy analysts have remained skeptical throughout these proceedings, and yet up to this point, Mr. Rossi has basically done everything he said he was going to do. Wait and see what a group of independent testers think, with money on the line.

Updated reports on today's E-Cat test
Here is another link for updated information on the test. Also check at Ecatnews.net, eCat Economics and Governance, or E-Cat World.

Andrea Rossi's E-Cat LENR Device Being Tested Now at U. Bologna

Update 1200 PDT 6Oct2011 from Peswiki:

The following was shared with us (over an hour ago) by one of our contacts.

"At 19:00, after 4 hours of continuous self-sustaining operation, the reaction has been interrupted as planned. This will allow some time for the E-Cat module to cool down. Afterwards, it will be disassembled and inspected. The end of the operations is planned for 00:00."

-- Nocompromises 12:00, 6 October 2011 (PDT)

- - - -

Daniele Passerini has posted some interesting updates on his Twitter page and blog. Please forgive the fact that this news is a couple hours old. He has reported that the E-Cat self sustained with zero input power, for over four hours! The E-Cat has been turned off, and will be allowed to cool. Then it will be taken apart and the inside of the device will be examined, and all the components will be weighed again (they were weighed before the test started).

http://twitter.com/#!/22passi

-- Nocompromises 11:52, 6 October 2011 (PDT) _Peswiki

More information will be available after analysis of all the data from the test.

E-Catworld is providing several weblinks to today's test of Rossi's E-Cat at the University of Bologna.

Here is the link to Peswiki's real time updates of today's E-Cat test

- The E-Cat module will be taken apart (except for the reactor core) so the components can be measured and weighed.

- The test will last for 12 hours or longer.

- The E-Cat module will be allowed to operate in self sustain mode -- with no input power -- for an extended period of time.

- Better measurement and data acquisition techniques will be utilized. _Peswiki

Wired.co.uk article on "Cold Fusion" including prominent mention of Rossi's venture

Today's U. Bologna test of Rossi's E-Cat is claimed to be the most definitive testing yet. NASA scientists are said to be on hand [Ed.: This was taken from a comment on one of the cold fusion sites, so take with a grain of salt]. Regardless, expectations are high for either a thumbs up or thumbs down from reliable witnesses after all results are in.

The main question to be answered, is whether or not nuclear reactions are taking place in the E-Cat reactors, providing "excess heat" well over what simple chemical reactions could produce. If so, theoretical physicists have their work cut out explaining the nature of these reactions and future experiments which might be done to clarify the ultimate potential for the new science.

Cross-posted from Al Fin Energy

Correction: The University of Bologna is denying that the university is connected with today's test in any way. Apparently the test is taking place in Bologna, but not at a university facility.

A Closer Look at Rossi's Numbers for his LENR / "Cold Fusion" Device

NewEnergyandFuel
Both Brian Wang and Brian Westenhaus have been following the progress of the Rossi / Focardi low energy nuclear reaction device.

Rossi claims that the reactor is able to obtain large amounts of heat energy from the low energy nuclear transmutation reactions that transform Nickel into Copper. Here is a more detailed look at the energy numbers involved in such a transmutation:

MeV for each Ni transformation

Starting from Ni58 we can obtain Copper formation and its successive decay in Nickel, producing Ni59, Ni60, and Ni62. The chain stops at Cu63 stable.

For simplicity I assume all the Nickel in the reactor in the form Ni58.

For simplicity I suppose for each Ni58 the whole sequence of events from Ni58 to Cu63 and as a rough estimate I calculate the mass defect between (Ni58 plus 5 nucleons) and the final state Cu63.

Ni58 mass is calculated to be 57.95380± 15 amu

The actual mass of a copper-Cu63 nucleus is 62.91367 amu

Mass of Ni58 plus 5 nucleons is 57.95380+5=62.95380 amu

Mass defect is 62.95380-62.91367=0.04013 amu

1 amu = 931 MeV is used as a standard conversion

0.04013×931 MeV=37.36 MeV

So each transformation of Ni58 into Cu63 releases 37.36MeV of nuclear energy.


Nickel consumption
One hundred grams of nickel powder can power a 10 kW unit for a minimum of six months.

How much of Ni58 should be transformed, in six months of continuous operation, in order to generate 10 kW?

10 kW is thermal or electrical power. The nuclear power must be larger. Assume a nuclear power twice:
20 kW = 20,000 J/s = 1.25 x 10**17 MeV/s.

Each transformation of Ni58 into Cu63 releases 37.36MeV of nuclear energy.

The number of Ni58 transformations should thus be equal to (1.25 x 10**17)/37.36 = 3.346 x 10**15 per second.

Multiplying by the number of seconds in six months (1.55 x 10**7) the total number of transformed Ni58 nuclei is 5.186 x 10**22.

This means 5 grams.

The order of magnitude is not exactly the same but seems to be plausible. This means also 5 grams of Nickel in Rossi’s reactor transmuted into (stable) Copper after six months of continuous operation at the rate of 10 kW. _NextBigFuture

This may seem incredible to most persons who know how many tons of coal are required to provide the same amount of power as 5 grams of nickel. But nuclear energy is on a far different level of scale than chemical energies, such as combustion energy.

But if you consult this table of energy densities provided at Transtronics Wiki, you can clearly see the difference in scale between the energy of nuclear reactions and the energy from chemical reactions -- roughly 7 or 8 orders of magnitude, depending on the method of comparison.

Imagine the savings in fuel transportation costs alone!

Will this sparkling new form of energy prove to be true gold, or just a fool's flash in the pan? Time will tell.

Not Cold Fusion! Low Energy Nuclear Reactions

"Cold fusion" and Blacklight Power have been two of the less reputable approaches to generating energy. Cloaked in mystery and proprietary methods and materials, to outsiders both approaches seem custom-made for investment scamming. And yet neither approach seems likely to go away soon. In fact, a whole new upswell of interest in unconventional energy sources has been pouring out of Italy over the past week.

First of all, "cold fusion" is not a good description for what Rossi and Focardi seem to be doing.

Whatever the LENRs that are responsible for the device’s heat output, nickel-hydrogen reactions are not fusion, so this has nothing to do with the idea of “cold fusion.”

Researcher Jacques Dufour, retired from Shell and now a contractor with the French Laboratoire Des Sciences Nucléaires (CNAM), has speculated on neutron or proton capture on nickel to explain the mechanism. Unfortunately, proton capture requires astronomical forces to overcome the Coulomb barrier and is effectively invoking “cold fusion.”

Neutron capture, on the other hand, is different and theoretically feasible. In his conclusion, Dufour has cited the Widom-Larsen theory, published in the mainstream press by the European Physics Journal C, Pramana, and the American Chemical Society. The theory has also been cited by NASA, Johns Hopkins University and the Institute of Science in Society. (See New Energy Times Widom-Larsen Theory Portal for papers and references.)

“Strong nuclear signatures are expected from the Rossi energy amplifier,” Dufour writes. “It is of interest to note that in [Widom Larsen 'Theoretical Standard Model Rates of Proton to Neutron Conversions Near Metallic Hydride Surfaces'] a mechanism is proposed that strongly suppresses the gamma emission during the run (it is the same mechanism that creates very low energy neutrons, subsequently captured by the nickel).” _NewEnergyTimes

Neutron capture would describe a form of "transmutation." Rossi and Focardi are claiming that their energy-generating device involves the transmutation of nickel to copper. They are not claiming any form of fusion.

Still, a lot of people don't want to let go of the "cold fusion" idea, but if the mechanism is proven to generate as much excess heat as is claimed -- an energy gain of over 20 to 1 -- successful developers should be allowed to call it whatever they wish. More:

...while mainstream science spurns cold fusion vehemently, a maverick minority has been pursuing it with just as much passion; holding international conferences, publishing papers in their margin journals, and comparing notes.

And they don't like calling it "cold fusion," both because of the stigma attached to that phrase, as well as the inaccuracy of the name from a strict interpretation point of view. It's most often called a "Low Energy Nuclear Reaction" or LENR.

With Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi announcing in a press conference and demonstration last Friday that they had a device that produces 10 kilowatts of energy (enough to power five homes), and that they were now going into production with the patented technology; you can imagine that the LENR community has been abuzz with interest about this amazing disclosure. Though there has been plenty of skepticism, the general tone seems to be increasingly positive, as can be seen in the excerpts below.

Three of the premier media sources in that arena are Jed Rothwell's LENR-CANR.org, Steven Krivit's New Energy Times, and Infinite Energy. A sampling of they're take on this is represented here. There are other players in the cold fusion journalistic world as well, including those that cater to non-English-speaking audiences. _Pure Energy Systems News

Speculations about possible similarities between Rossi/Focardi and Blacklight Power:

Rossi received a patent, but he says that it does not contain proprietary information on the catalysts used in the device and the special processes utilized to prepare the powdered nickel. Speculation on the internet continues as to what these catalysts may be and what special processes may be utilized. One possibility that has been suggested is that sodium hydride (NaH) may be mixed in with the nano sized nickel powder. The hypothesis is that the NaH when heated would release hydrogen that would interact with the nickel powder. After this occurs the cell would be allowed to cool slightly (perhaps the need for a controllable input) to regenerate the NaH which would absorb hydrogen. Then the cycle would begin once again.

Such a cycle would be similar to some of the experiments performed by Black Light Power. Additional ideas include special methods to "clean" the nickel powder of impurities, a method that embeds the nickel powder in a ceramic that may act like a catalyst, and other methods.

It has been suggested on some internet forums that due to the fact that his patent is absent of such important information, it may not be enforceable and this may partially explain his need for total secrecy about these special processes and methods.

These emerging bits of information, technical details, interviews, and accounts of the demonstration are making the argument in favor of this technology being legitimate more compelling. As the days progress we urge you to follow this story closely. _PESN

Brian Wang has been following this story closely
Extensive (148 pp) PDF description of low energy nuclear reactions (h/t NextBigFuture)

When confronted with claims such as come from Blacklight Power or Focardi/Rossi, one must remain skeptical. And yet it is important to attempt to follow research progress and commentary as provided by objective-but-interested persons familiar with the basic theories involved.

Clean and abundant resources of energy will be discovered and commercially developed, in time. But modern western societies are in the unfortunate position of having their energy supplies unnecessarily constricted by political leaders, for ideological reasons masquerading as science. The effect of such policies include economic stagnation and a generalised "societal malaise" and an absence of a positive sense of future. These problems tend to feed upon each other and escalate in severity over time -- particularly when political leaders are corrupt and waste vast public resources -- both present and future -- merely to remain in power.

The bottom line is that when claims sound exaggerated, they usually are. It is best not to get one's hopes up prematurely. Be skeptical, but check in on progress from time to time, just in case something important is actually happening.

PESWiki page on Focardi/Rossi

New Energy Times blog

Low Energy Nuclear Reactions News

"Journal of Nuclear Physics" blog a "peer reviewed blog" run by Rossi

None of the sources listed above represent the physics mainstream, but if you read through the 148 pp PDF introduction on low energy nuclear reactions from New Energy Times, you should have an idea what questions to ask, what to look for, and what may be going on.

Al Fin energy analysts recommend not counting on this development to provide appreciable power supplies for a number of decades at least. But they admit they are slowly becoming addicted to speculating on such unconventional physical mechanisms as a diversion.