12 kW cold fusion reactor demonstrated
Baku, January 24 (AZERTAC). This past weekend, a cold fusion reactor was demonstrated in Italy by scientists Sergio Focardi and Andrea Rossi. In this demonstration, about 18 liters of water went into the device, and turned into steam.
This demonstration, when fully confirmed, will be remarkable as the reaction is not the conventional cold fusion reaction of deuterium and palladium, but a reaction involving hydrogen and nickel. Using nickel, as well as other less expensive metals and alloys, will bring the cost of cold fusion power devices much lower than if they had to use palladium, a precious metal that is more costly to mine and produce. Also, using hydrogen, instead of its isotope deuterium, means that the fuel for this type of reaction consists of the most abundant material in the universe, and on planet earth in the form of water!
Rossi estimates that the cost of energy made with this system will be below 1 cent/kWh, in case of electric power made by means of a Carnot cycle, and below 1 cent/4,000 M J in case of thermal power production for heating purposes. That is several times cheaper than energy from fossil fuel sources such as coal or natural gas. According to Rossi, the demonstrated device shown last Friday is their industrial product that is claimed to be reliable and safe. In normal operation it would produce 8 units of output for every unit of input. Higher levels of output are possible, but can be dangerous. They will soon start serial production of their modules. Combining the modules in series and parallel arrays it is possible to reach every limit of power. The modules are designed to be connected in series and parallels.
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