Acs New Energy Technology Symposium

T he fifth New Energy Technology Symposium was held at the 241st American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting at the Sheraton Park Resort in Anaheim, California on March 27 and 28. The organizer of the symposium, Dr. Jan Marwan of Dr. Marwan Chemie, was unable to chair the meeting due to personal reasons. However, the sessions of the symposium were co-chaired by Dr. Francis Tanzella of SRI International, Dr. Pamela Boss of SSC-Pacific and Dr. Melvin Miles of Dixie State College. The meeting started with a moment of silence in honor of Dr. Scott Chubb, who had passed away on March 25 after a two-year battle with cancer. A sympathy card was signed by some of the session participants and sent to Scott’s wife and family. The New Energy Technology Symposium was divided into three topic areas. The first topic area was “Theoretical Approach to LENR/Cold Fusion.” Due to cancellations, only five speakers presented during the first session. Prof. Akito Takahashi (Kobe University, Technova) was the first to discuss the phenomenology of Pd/ZrO2 and Pd/Ni/ZrO2 nanoparticle/gas-loading experiments. In addition to measurements of temperature and pressure, neutron and gamma spectroscopy were performed during these experiments. No nuclear results were presented. Rapid overloading, with D(H)/M>>1.0, was seen in the deuterium loading experiments of 2nm Pd nano-particles (provided by Ahern), as opposed to similar experiments using 6-10nm and 100nm Pd nano-particles, and much faster than that seen with hydrogen loading. In addition, the enthalpies of absorption/adsorption were 2 to 7 times larger than that seen for the bulk. The sorption energy was 3 to 30 times greater than the desorption energy. One sample, PdNi7ZrO2, showed a deuterium loading ratio of greater than 3. Takahashi also described his model of a MDE mesoscopic catalyst as a core-shell structure consisting of a mono-metal particles (with an oxide layer) suspended in a larger ceramic support particle. In the Ni-rich system the Pd atoms are surrounding a cluster of Ni atoms to form a particle suspended in the zirconia matrix. This structure allows better access to the tetrahedral and octahedral adsorption sites in both the Ni and Pd atoms. Olga Dmitriyeva (Coolescence, University of Colorado) performed experiments somewhat similar to those presented by Takahashi but using Pd nano-particles suspended in alumina or zeolite particles. She concluded that H-D exchange can yield all combinations of molecules containing H, D and O, and that the reaction can be exothermic or endothermic. This led to the conclusion that the excess heat seen in her system was most likely of chemical nature. Prof. Jirohta Kasagi (Tohoku University) presented “Low Energy 6Li+d Reaction with Liquid Li Target: Screening Effects Due to Electrons and Ions.” He and Takahashi showed photographs of the destruction which occurred as a result of the March 11 tsunami in Japan. Prof. Peter Hagelstein (MIT) presented “Progress in Modeling Excess Heat in the Fleischmann-Pons Experiment” and began by stating that although his donor-acceptor model explained the multi-step process necessary for the energy source in the PdDx system to exchange with the lattice, the subdivision of this large quantum to many receivers suffered from requiring strong coupling and long lifetime and both cannot be true. After reviewing data from both Karabut (X-rays) and Gozzi (gamma rays), he could manage a 2-level receiver model. He considers this to be an idealization of a more complicated model, which is under development. Prof. Fulvio Frisone (University of Catania) described his model of microcracks in the cubic lattice while varying temperature. These cracks increase the tunneling effect, allowing for anomalous nuclear effects. Frisone concluded that the probability of tunneling increases with temperature raised to the fourth power. The focus of the second topic area of the symposium was “Excess Heat/Power Calorimetry and Nuclear Particle Production.” Dr. Mitchell Swartz (JET Energy Inc.) gave two presentations on ZrO2(PdNiD) nanostructured materials. These materials contain deuterated metallic PdNi core islands electrically isolated by a zirconia (ZrO2) dielectric. The D loading is very high (up to ~3) and the material exhibits complex, possibly Zener-type, electrical avalanche breakdown behavior. Several nanostructured ZrO2(PdNiD)-containing LANR devices (NANORs) were constructed and interrogated by electric, magnetic and ultrasonic fields using 4-terminal conduction measurements and calorimetry. Swartz reported that NANORs in a LANR transistor configuration, driven by two applied electric field intensities, demonstrate LANR heat associated with low level near-infrared emission, controlled by two optimal operating point manifolds. Dr. Michael McKubre (SRI International) discussed the different modes of heat production resulting from the Fleischmann-Pons Effect. Heat mode A applies to bulk Pd. Heat occurs when the D/Pd ratio in a cathode is maintained above a threshold value for a period of time that is long compared with the deuterium diffusional time-constant. The observed excess power increases approximately linearly with cathode current density (above a non-zero threshold), approximately parabolically with D/Pd loading above threshold, and is responsive to deuterium flux. The amount of excess heat is typically 5-50% above the input power. Heat mode B applies to thin Pd foils and wires. Shorter initiation (on the time-scale of deuterium diffusion) times are required to stimulate excess heat production. This effect occurs at lower current thresholds, giving rise to sometimes very large power and energy gains (thermal output/electrical input). ACS NEW ENERGY TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM