Andrea Rossi has disclosed some details of his E-Cat device, but is keeping a key part secret - the catalyst used to increase the supposed nuclear reaction to the point where it produces a practical amount of energy.  There have been speculation on some E-Cat sites about what this catalyst is, and I think there may be enough information floating around to make an educated guess.

The basic ingredients of the E-Cat are:

1. Nickle power in a pressure container.


2. Hydrogen gas under pressure.


3. Radio Frequency transmission


4. The mystery catalyst.

The theory is that hydrogen gas (H2) is broken apart by the catalyst into atomic hydrogen - which is just a single proton.  The protons infuse into the nickel metal particles, and become trapped between the nickel atoms.  Then some unknown nuclear reaction takes place under the influence of heat, pressure, and RF radiation, producing large amounts of heat.

After poking around the web the last few days, I\'d like to suggest that the mystery catalyst is simple iron powder.  It\'s well known that iron (Fe) can break apart hydrogen bonds, and is used in chemical processes.  If this is actually the catalyst being used in the E-Cat, then building one doesn\'t seem it would be all that hard.

The basic idea is:

• Combine nickel power, iron power, and perhaps carbon powder (to bind up any free oxygen).


• Put this mixture in a container capable of handling some pressure.


• Pressurize the container with hydrogen gas.


• Heat the container up to several hundred degrees by an internal resistive heating element.
  


• Transmit an RF signal (of some unknown frequency) into the container through an antenna wire.

And, if the E-Cat process is real, there would be LOTS of excess heat produced.  (That is, heat in excess to that generated by the heating element and RF generation.

I\'d like to see a group effort to try and replicate the E-Cat in an open source format.  Anyone interested?