Focardi-Rossi Energy-Catalyzer

Article is in translation and unfinished

Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi (picture "La Repubblica")

The Rossi Focardi Energy Amplifier (also E-Cat or Rossi Energy Catalyzer or just Rossi energy amplifier) allegedly is a small fusion reactor assumed to be based on Cold Fusion. The Italian company EON srl claim they plan to market it in 2011. It allegedly produces more than 10 kW thermal energy while needing just a couple of 100 Watts of electrical energy to power it. According to the Italian inventors, Professor emeritus in physics Sergio Focardi and the alleged engineer Andrea Rossi, a cold fusion of hydrogen and nickel to copper is taking place in the reactor. As a side-effect of the reaction ionizing radiation should be emitted, but independent measurement during the experiments disproved that. Attempts to replicate the experiment independently failed so far. The last public presentation was mid-January 2011.

The true inventor of the principle was the Italian biophysicist Francesco Piantelli in 1989, who filed a patent application in 2010. Rossi, who himself tries to patent his invention, does not acknowledge that:

"My process has nothing to do with the process of Piantelli. The proof is that I am making operating reactors, he is not."

Purported functional principle

Andrea Rossi and the reactor (demonstration january 14, 2011, Source: Curiosity-Blog)

All currently known information about the "Rossi Focardi Energy Amplifier" are provided by inventors, a patent application by Rossi, YouTube videos and statements from a couple of physicists who tried to replicate the principle. There is no noteworthy reception by the international physics community so far and an attempt of inventors to publish an article about their device in a renowned professional journal failed. Only a few physicists reacted with blog entries and comments (e.g.: [5]). As of March 2011, no impeccable scientific publication is known. Focardi and Rossi spread their claims through their own "online newspaper" "Journal of Nuclear Physics", basically an Internet blog, and the Italian newspaper "Il Cimento". "Journal of Nuclear Physics" was the title of a Russian professional journal which is not published any longer. The involved company EON srl did not publish any information. Physicist Focardi admitted upon inquiry that the "Journal of Nuclear Physics" was founded since the attempt to publish in any accredited journal had failed.

According to available and partly contradictory information from inventors Focardi and Rossi, the small reactor enables exothermal fusion. They claim they were able to "produce" 130 kW thermal energy in an extreme case and needed just 80 to 1.250 Watt to "heat up" and for the operation of the electronic controller.

The process was unfolded only in part, even though a patent application was filed (not approved as of yet); it involves the transformation of nickel and hydrogen to copper which creates heat and ionizing radiation. The patent application is more precise and states that the stable nickel isotope 62Ni28 (which makes about 3,6% of normal nickel) reacts with hydrogen and is transformed into the stable copper isotope 62Cu29. The copper created through this process is said to consist of two stable copper isotopes with an isotope proportion that is different from natural copper. Such a fusion would need very high temperatures and strong gamma radiation from the destruction of positrons and electrons would be emitted.

Nickel rods allegedly were used initially, but during the latest experiments nickel powder was used (particle sizes are said to be in the nm-range, the patent application mentions 10 µm). Rossi mentions the company "Gerli Metalli" from Milan as supplier. Further catalysts in addition to those specified in the patent application are said to be used. Unconfirmed internet rumours name "Raney-Nickel" since two fires in the laboratory of Rossi were caused by "Raney-Nickel". The use of nickel oxide, which reacts with hydrogen creating water and heat (NiO2 + H2 --> Ni + H20), has been denied.

Through heating the reactor with electricity to 180-400 degrees Celsius protons from hydrogen gas are said to enter the nickel atoms which lead to a nuclear reaction if the pressure on the gas is increased in periodical, pulsed, powerful step. Hydrogen is said to be used up and some helium is created. The used nickel rod is said to have tiny craters after a reaction. According to the patent application, the electrical pre-heating of the reactor is automatically turned off by a temperature control device when operating temperature was achieved. Further electrical energy (20 to 80 W) was only necessary to supply the controlling electronic. Unconfirmed internet rumours claim that high voltage or magnetic fields of 360 kV to overcome the Coulomb barrier might be in use. But use of such high voltage is not possible in such a small device due to spark generation.

The inventors claim the so called "fusion" also generated weak gamma and neutron radiation. Radiation is said to be β+-radiation with positrons (known from potassium 40-decay). They also claim they did not know the functional principle. A response in their blog speculates about similarities between the Rossi Focardi Energy Amplifier and the Hydrino theory of American physician and electrical engineer Randell Mills who claims to work with hydrogen and nickel, too. Supporters of "cold fusion" theories often claim so called Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) were happening. The term LENR is not used in professional journals and such fusion processes were not observed as of yet.

Further internet speculations contend it was just a chemical reaction unknown to the inventors and normally used to extract nickel from ore. The Sherritt-Gordon process" is accompanied by heat, but a normal chemical reaction. The detection of copper after the reaction may be explained since nickel is usually impure and contains some copper.

Application and claims of success

Input and output of the reactor according to inventors

Focardi and Rossi claim they achieved an increasing heat output of their device over the years. They state one nickel rod was sufficient for 6 months. In the patent application, Rossi reported he was heating his company's bureau with the reactor and thus saved more than 90% in electricity bills during the last 6 months:

A practical embodiment of the inventive apparatus, installed on October 16, 2007, is at present perfectly operating 24 hours per day, and provides an amount of heat sufficient to heat the factory of the Company EON of via Carlo Ragazzi 18, at Bondeno (Province of Ferrara)."

A "kW-module" allegedly operates in a "Leonardo facility" in New Hampshire (USA) since 2008, where Rossi is currently employed.

Nickel consumption and Cost

According to Rossi, 100 gramm nickel powder are consumed over a period of 6 months at an output of 10 kW (therm.). The cost for the "fuel" would amount to 2 Euro. An E-cat should cost about 2,000 Euro per kW output (a 10 kW-model thus 20.000 Euro).

History

In 1989, cold fusion received wide media attention due to the claims of Fleischmann and Pons and their failed experiments. In the same year the Italian biophysicist Francesco Piantelli(Siena University) claimed he incidentially observed strong heat emissions with temperatures above 1,450° C during an experiment with organic material which came into contact with nickel and hydrogen, which he could not explain. The incident was reported by several Italian daily papers. In 1995, Piantelli received a "Truffle Prize" for his observation during a "Workshop on Anomalies in Hydrogen / Deuterium Loaded Metals".

The physicist Sergio Focardi from Bologna University heard about this and teamed up with Piantelli to investigate the phenomenon. After a couple of years they had built a nickel hydrogen reactor and in February 1994 announced in a press conference their reactor as a principle for "Reazioni Nucleari a Bassa Energia" (LENR, "Low Energy Nuclear Reactions"), carefully avoiding the term "cold fusion". The daily newspaper wrote an article and as before, in 1989, no scientific paper was published. A thermical engine output of 40-50 Watt was claimed. A nickel rod which was surface treated and "degassed" was said to be enclosed in the reactor with hydrogen.

Presentation on 14. January 2011

Video of an experiment taking several minutes during a public presentation on January 14, 2011 (Source: Curiosity-Blog)

Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi gave a press conference on January 14, 2011 which was not only attended by the Italian public television broadcaster RAI (RAI 3) and several journalists, but also by several physicists from universities. In a nearby room the function of the reactor was shown for a few minutes. The inventors reported this in their blog, and published three Youtube videos in Italian [6], [7], [8].

During the press conference they stated that the heat input was 600 Watt and the estimated output 12.000 Watt (12 kW). The produced heat was calculated from the heated water: 292 grammes of water per minute were heated from 20 degree to 101 degrees(dry vapor) and evaporated. The attending physicists were allowed to take some measurements. They were disappointed in regard of a spectral analysis of the gamma radiation which was denied because of secrecy reasons. A detailed report from independent physicists from Bologna University stated that no gamma radiation could be established, although two holes were made into the device for measurement purposes. From the report:

no gamma radiation above the background level in the energy region Eγ > 200 keV has been observed, neither in single counting, not in coincidence;
regardless of the internal details of the reaction chamber, shieldings and other industrial secrets, the γ rates measured with the NaI counters seem not compatible with the rates deduced or expected assuming that the energy production was due to nuclear fusion or decay reactions, as suggested in [1].

Observers were allowed to weigh the hydrogen gas container before and after the experiment (Weight: 18,6 Kg). Even considering possible errors in measurement (still attached duct tapes), the hydrogen usage was estimated at less than one gramm, not enough to make conventional hydrogen combustion plausible. Link to the report: [9] The estimation of the reactor output through the amount of evaporated water was criticized afterwards, calculations were based on dry vapor without taking possible condensate water into account. The alleged water throughput of 292 ml/min was doubted, since the alleged supply pump had only about half the necessary flow rate.

Undocumented experiment on February 10, 2011

On February 10, 2011 a further "internal test", attended by the allegedly "independent" physics instructor Guiseppe Levi from Bologna University, was made with the "E-Cat" in Bologna. Several websites purport the test instead took place on February 18, 2011. Levi is the leader of a workgroup of the department of physics which got a financial contribution for their support of the project. According to Guiseppe Levi's description, published in a Swedish online article with the title "Cold Fusion: 18 hour test excludes combustion", the device was connected through a hose to a regular water tap to cool the "reactor". Tap water was said to flow through the device with about 1 liter per second and to be heated by 5 degree. The test was run for 18 hours, a water meter quantified the flow and was checked by video during the night. The "reactor" was allegedly heated up for 10 minutes with 1,250 Watt and afterwards only the controlling device was supplied with 80 Watt. This would imply a constant thermal output of 15-20 Kilowatt. According to Levi, 0,4 grammes of hydrogen were used in those 18 hours. The same source quotes Levi with the comment he now excluded "chemical energy" as heat source:

...Now that I have seen the device work for so many hours, in my view all chemical energy sources are excluded...

A claimed accumulated thermal energy output was calculated by supporters of "Cold Fusion" (LENR Low Energy Nuclear Reactions - CANR Chemically Assisted Nuclear Reactions) as 270-288 kWh (about one GJ), which would correspond to about 26 liters heating oil. Assuming an average output of 17 kW (the electrical input energy for pre-heating and control can be neglected) over 18 hours actually renders about 300 kWh. The fuel value of 1 liter oil is about 10 kWh, which gives a heating oil amount of 30 liters to produce the same thermal output.

For comparison, the heating value of common energy sources. Because of smoke, exhaust fumes and toxicity (beryllium) they are not feasible. The volume of the external control unit is said to be about 60 liter but, according to Levi, contained just electronics. The reaction chamber has a volume of about 1 liter and shielding is said to be 2 cms lead with a weight of 30 kgs.

• Beryllium – combustion with oxygen: 125 MJ/l (very toxic)
• Bor: 1385 MJ/l
• Aluminum 845 MJ/l (burns only in powder form, which implies lesser heating value per volume)
• Graphit: 735 MJ/ll

Attempts to replicate the experiments

A group led by Antonino Zichichi in vain tried to repeat the experiment at CERN in Geneva in 1996. They mentioned an observable increase in temperature, but this did not correspond to an increase in heat production:

The authors state, "We have found the [Piantelli-Focardi group’s] results to be consistent with our observations; namely we measured higher temperatures for the same input power when hydrogen is absorbed during a heating cycle. Nevertheless this temperature rise does not appear to correspond to an increase in heat production. We have added a temperature sensor to the container of the experiment. The temperature of the container follows the same temperature with input power curve irrespective of whether there is an anomalous absorption of hydrogen or not; therefore we have no evidence that this temperature increase corresponds to another source of heat. In conclusion, we have observed all the effects discovered by Focardi et al., but our results imply that there is no production of power associated with the absorption of hydrogen by nickel."

In 1998/1999, a further attempt to replicate the tests was made by scientists Luigi Nosenzo and Luigi Cattaneo in Pavia (Italy). Over the course of several months no fusion reaction or energy production could be observed.

Inventor Andrea Rossi

Rossi CV on his website (March 4, 2011)

Reimbursement-offer of the Diploma mill "Kensington University Inc." to its customers

The "Rossi-Energy Amplifier" is not the first invention of Andrea Rossi. In the 1970ies and 1980ies, he tried to win hydrocarbons from waste to no avail. That led to several law suits and criminal cases with prison sentences against the "Sheik of Brianza" (Sceicco della Brianza, sheik because he claimed to win oil from industrial waste, Brianza is an area north of Milan). The law suits were also known as "Petroldragon affair" after Rossis company "Petroldragon". Rossi was convicted for trading and disposing large amounts of toxic waste not in accordance with regulations. According to Rossi an ecological conversion technology was suppressed. He was also accused of tax fraud. He migrated to USA afterwards. Currently, company shares (EON srl) are handled by his wife Maddalena Pascucci.

In a Curriculum Vitae containing his work history which is available on his website (see picture on the right from March 4, 2011), Rossi states he graduated in Philosophy at the University of Milan and names as a second "Laurea" title (common term for a doctor's degree at an Italian university) in "Ingegneria Chimica" (chemical engineering) at Californian "Kensington University Inc.". This company was officially registered in Hawaii, but operated from Glendale in California and was a wellknown Diploma mill until it was shut down by the law. The company was sentenced to restitute all former customers (see picture to the left) after it had been reported by a consumer protection organisation.

EON srl, Leonardo Corporation and Defkalion Green Technologies

The company EON srl(apparently owned by Rossi), which is often mentioned related to the topic, has locations in Bondeno and in Rome. In Bodeno, an "E-cat" device is said to have heated the accommodations basically for free. Rossi also claims to have also used the E-cat to heat water at his private home.

Undisclosed non-Italian investors and inventors plan to offer working reactors for industrial purposes in 2011. An official permission from 2006 is known which allows the Italian company EON srl to operate a biodiesel plant with an output of 1 Megawatt (MW) in Bodena. According to inventors, they plan to build a plant with 120 combined energy amplifier reactors which should produce the same amount of energy, 1,000 kW (1 MW), in Greece or USA. Construction should be completed in October 2011, ordering party is a Greek company "Defkalion Green Technologies S.A.".

A Leonardo Corporation located in Bedford, New Hampshire is Rossi's current employer. The e-mail address of this company happens to be identical with the e-mail address of EON srl in Italy. This company and Greek Defkalion are supposed to build the "reactors". Currently, Leonardo Corporation offers electric generators fueled by vegetable oils (turbo charged and intercooled). The company claims a high efficiency due to its patented "EON" technology which recovers thermal loss.

A small company in Athens named "Defkalion Energy" or "Defkalion Green Technologies S.A." owned by one Symeon Tsalikoglou will produce the energy catalysators according to Rossi. Whereas the website of EON srl has been "under construction" for months now, the page of Defkalion now offers a contact address in Athens. Domain owner is Andreas Meintanis from GR-19200 Elefsina.

Whereas Leonardo Corp. will handle business in USA, it is apparently planned for Defkalion to have the sales rights for the rest of the world, but at least for European countries.

Financing and cooperation with Bologna University

Rossi states he spent 500,000 Euro for tests with more than 1,000 E-cat reactors, financed e.g. with earnings from the sale of his previous company Petroldragon, which is said to have brought him one million Euro. As of yet, no customers have made any advance payments, Rossi will earn revenue or license fees only when sales starts. He as allegedly made a cooperation agreement with the Bologna University. He is said to have paid 500,000 Euro to the physics department of the university to support him with development. Leader of these activities is the physicist Giuseppe Levi. Part of the future revenue will allegedly be donated to children suffering from cancer:

The 500,000 Euros I am paying to the University of Bologna is my last money, but when I deliver the one-megawatt plant to Defkalion I get cash back. From then on, 50% will be used for expansion and 50% to treat children with cancer. I will personally look for the children whose families cannot afford their care..

Patents and patent applications

Drawing from patent application WO 2009/125444 von Rossi

Rossi applied for a patent for the method. The European Patent Office as an International Searching Authority of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) denied the application. It criticized the invention was not presented in comprehensive terms and it was not evident that energy was created by reaction of nickel and hydrogen as described. To cite from the report:

As the invention seems, at least at first, to offend against the generally accepted laws of physics and established theories, the disclosure should be detailed enough to prove to a skilled person conversant with mainstream science and technology that the invention is indeed feasible. [...] In the present case, the invention does not provide experimental evidence (nor any firm theoretical basis) which would enable the skilled person to assess the viability of the invention. The description is essentially based on general statement and speculations which are not apt to provide a clear and exhaustive technical teaching.

Versions of this article in other languages

• Deutsch: Focardi-Rossi-Energiekatalysator

Literature

• Giuseppe Levi: "Report on heat production during preliminary tests on the Rossi “Ni-H” reactor", Univ. Bologna, Jan. 2011 (auch: [10])
• "Italian scientists claim to have demonstrated cold fusion", Physorg, 20.1.2011
• "Il ritorno della fusione fredda", Artikel in der Zeitschrift "Query", 31.1.2011
• "Il ritorno della fusione fredda: ci risponde Levi", Artikel in der Zeitschrift "Query", 2.2.2011
• Focardi S., Habel R., and Piantelli F., "Anomalous Heat Production in Ni-H Systems," Nuovo Cimento, Vol. 107A, p. 163-167, (1994)
• Notoya, R. et al., "Tritium Generation and Large Excess Heat Evolution by Electrolysis in Light and Heavy Water-Potassium Carbonate Solutions With Nickel Electrodes," Fusion Technology, Vol. 26, p. 179, (Sept. 1994)
• Cerron-Zeballos, E., Crotty, I., Hatzifotiadou, D., Lamas Valverde, J., Williams, M.C.S., and Zibichi, A., "Investigation of Anomalous Heat Production in Ni-H Systems," Nuovo Cimento, Vol. 109A, p. 1645-1654, (1996)
• Mengoli, G., Bernardini, M., Manducchi, C., and Zannoni, G., "Anomalous Heat Effects Correlated With Electrochemical Hydriding of Nickel," Il Nuovo Cimento, Vol. 20 D, p. 331-352, (1998)
• Battaglia, A., Daddi, L., Focardi, S., Gabbani, V., Montalbano, V., Piantelli, F., Sona, P.G., and nesi, S., "Neutron Emission in Ni-H Systems," Nuovo Cimento, Vol. 112 A p. 921-931, (Sept. 1999)
• S. Focardi, V. Gabbani, V. Montalbano, F. Piantelli, S. Veronesi. "Large excess heat production in Ni-H systems". Il Nuovo Cimento Vol. 111 A, N.11 pp. 1233, novembre 1998
• Cerron-Zeballos, E., Crotty, I., Hatzifotiadou, D., Lamas Valverde, J., Williams, M.C.S., and Zichichi, A., "Investigation of Anomalous Heat Production in Ni-H Systems". Nuovo Cimento, Vol. 109A, p. 1645-1654, (1996).
• Adalberto Piazzoli. "Fusione Fredda? Una ricerca italiana". CICAP - Scienza & Paranormale N. 78 (Mai 2008)

News

• Franco, Foresta Martin, "Siena scopre l' energia pulita Fusione fredda all' italiana?," Corriere Della Sera, 19. Februar 1994
• Ilaria Venturi: Fusione nucleare a freddo - "A Bologna ci siamo riusciti", Artikel in "La Repubblica" (Bologna-Lokalausgabe) vom 14.1.2011. [11]

Weblinks

• Website of Andrea Rossi
• "Journal of Nuclear Physics". The title suggests a physics journal but it is actually a blog run by Focardi and Rossi which claims that articles are peer reviewed by "at least one" physics professor.
• http://www.eonsrl.com (Under construction, March 15, 2011)
• http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/cf/388amplifier.html
• http://www.newenergytimes.com/v2/news/2008/NET29-8dd54geg.shtml

Video

• Report in Greek television (greek/englisch)
• [12] (Demonstration Bologna January 1, 2011)
• [13] (Demonstration Bologna January 2, 2011)
• [14] (Demonstration Bologna January 3, 2011)