The Mystery of Andrea Rossi’s Improved E-Cat Formula (Hank Mills)

The following post was submitted by Hank Mills

Andrea Rossi has stated on multiple occasions that the results of the Lugano test has allowed him to make improvements to the low and high temperature E-Cat. These improvements have allowed for both the COP and the periods of self sustain mode to be increased. If we can determine what changes have been made to the formula, then replicators may be able to successfully demonstrate excess heat more easily.

We know that it appears the percentage of Ni62 increased in the fuel of the Lugano reactor. The exact mechanism for this phenomena is unknown. However, it’s interesting to note that as the test continued, the excess heat produced increased. It is possible that the percentage of excess heat is correlated to the percentage of Ni62. However, buying nickel enriched in Ni62 is expensive, and pure Ni62 is even more outrageous in cost. Andrea Rossi could potentially salvage enriched nickel from reactors that have ran for long periods of time, process the metal into carbonyl nickel, and use this to fuel his reactors. But this could be a tedious process that may not be practical for a small business. Also, to build millions of units – like it wants to do for the home E-Cat – a significant amount of Ni-62 would be required. I don’t think they can produce a sufficient quantity of enriched nickel. This rules out increasing the amount of Ni-62 to improve the formula.

We know that the interaction of a proton and Li7 is claimed to be the primary source of energy in the E-Cat. If this is the case, using a form of LiAlH4 with only Li7 and no Li6 could be an option. However, I’m not sure if such a chemical exists in commercial quantities. Lithium hydroxide enriched to over 99% Li7 is available, but a small quantity costs thousands of dollars. Since 92% of ordinary lithium is already Li7, increasing the percentage may not produce a significant increase in excess heat. This rules out increasing the amount of Li7 to improve the formula.

We know that a large amount of aluminum exists in the fuel. When the lithium and aluminum in the fuel melts, it smothers the nickel particles. One theory of how the E-Cat produces excess heat is that hydrogen atoms are absorbed into the nickel. Sometimes the protons of the hydrogen atoms cause transmutations in the nickel. Other times, the protons are shot out at high speed. These protons are thought to interact with the lithium to produce alpha particles that produce massive excess heat as their kinetic energy is lost in the reactor. According to Ikegami and other researchers, it is possible to increase the expected rate of nuclear reactions between protons and lithium atoms if the lithium is in the molten form. Other researchers, such as those involved with the Unified Gravity corporation, have also produced high rates of nuclear reactions between protons and lithium atoms. Something about lithium – which a scientist such as Ikegami could explain far better than myself – seems to allow it to undergo nuclear reactions millions of times what is expected under certain conditions. Aluminum doesn’t, as far as I know, have such a rate enhancement factor.

I propose the hypothesis that the aluminum in the fuel mix undergoes far fewer nuclear reactions than lithium due to the lack of a nuclear rate enhancement factor. The main purpose of the aluminum may be to scavage oxygen and other gases from the reactor. Aluminum does have a larger “nuclear cross section” than lithium, but that would not make up for the enormous rate enhancements documented by Ikegami and other scientists. The aluminum in the fuel may simply get in the way and block protons from interacting with the lithium. The large nuclear cross section of aluminum may only make the situation worse. Protons may hit aluminum, not under go a nuclear reaction, and then lose kinetic energy.

My guess is that Andrea Rossi has reduced the amount of LiAlH4 used in his reactor and replaced a portion of it with another lithium compound that does not contain aluminum. One possible compound is lithium hydroxide. At high temperatures, the lithium in LiOH would be released along with the oxygen and hydrogen. The released hydrogen would not result in a problem – hydrogen is a fuel and the oxygen would be scavanged by the aluminum in the LiAlH4.

Although replacing some of the LiAlH4 with lithium hydroxide would reduce the amount of hydrogen in the reactor, I do not think this would be a problem. I do not think a Ni-LiAlH4 reactor utilizes even a fraction of the hydrogen that is released. The amount of LiAlH4 could be gradually reduced until the amount of Al is no longer sufficient to lock up the oxygen and other unwanted gases in the reactor. By reducing the amount of Al and increasing the amount of Li, more nuclear reactions could take place.

In my mind, this is the most obvious improvement to the fuel that could be made.

– It would not be insanely expensive like using enriched Ni62.
– It could possibly result in a much larger gain of energy than using Li7 enriched LiAlH4.
– It could be done easily at a low cost.

So what could be a good mixture of nickel, lithium aluminum hydride, and lithium hydroxide to test?

I think a comparison of 90% nickel and 10% lithium aluminum hydride to 90% nickel, 5% lithium aluminum hydride, and 5% lithium hydroxide would be interesting.

I want to warn everyone that this is pure conjecture. I have no proof to back up this hypothesis. However, I think it makes logical sense.

Hank Mills