UPDATE #2 (Aug 17, 2015) There has been some more comments on the Journal of Nuclear Physics by Andrea Rossi on the ‘melting point’ issue. Someone asked Rossi if the E-Cat X was able to operate above the melting point of Nickel, and Rossi affirmed that it was able to.
Later, he commented further saying, “The E-Cat is still intrinsecally safe due to the melting point of the charge, even if it is higher than the melting point of nickel.” I followed up with a couple of questions of my own.
1. Are you saying that it is not possible for your reactors to operate after the melting point of the charge is reached?
2. Has the charge changed due to your R&D process?Andrea Rossi
August 17th, 2015 at 8:23 AM
Frank Acland:
1- yes
2- confidential
Warm Regards,
A.R.
This response implies that it is not possible for the E-Cat to operate in a molten state.
UPDATE #1 (July 29, 2015): I asked Rossi on the JONP about what he had said in the past regarding the E-Cat being intrinsically safe after melting point of nickel had been reached: “If the melting point of nickel can now be passed, is the intrinsic safety feature no longer valid?”
Rossi responded:
Andrea Rossi
July 29th, 2015 at 12:47 PM
Frank Acland:
I am very sorry, but to answer to this question I’d have to give confidential information. The principle of the intrinsic safety is still valid, though.
Warm Regards,
A.R.
We’ve been hearing from Andrea Rossi about how his latest version of the Hot Cat was recently able to run at 1380°C for ten hours — and this is quite close to the melting point of nickel — which is 1455°C. It has been stated by Rossi in the past that the E-Cat stops when the nickel powder melts, but today there’s quite a surprise in a comment from him when asked whether the E-Cat could “under special conditions, this temperature can be overcome (still working well), without destructive hot spots.”
Here’s the reply:
Andrea Rossi
July 29th, 2015 at 7:23 AM
Italo R.:
We can overcome that limit, for reasons I am not allowed to explain.
Warm Regards,
A.R.
So that’s a bit of a revelation. One thing that comes to mind is that Rossi has said that the E-Cat is ‘intrinsically safe’ since the reaction stops when the nickel powder reaches melting point — but from what Rossi now says, that would not be the case.
It’s been years since the original E-Cat was developed, and it would not be too surprising to me if during all the R&D, new discoveries about the E-Cat process, and new methods of exploiting the “Rossi Effect” had been achieved. But this news seems to take away some of the limits of the E-Cat, and it makes me wonder what this could mean for the future of this technology. 1380°C is certainly hot enough to generate supercritical steam — so important for electricity generation — but what could one do with even higher temperatures, and what’s the limit now?
