(Swedish version here).

In the morning of February 10, the inventor and engineer Andrea Rossi initiated a new controlled experiment in Bologna, Italy, with the heat producing 'energy catalyzer' that could possibly be based on cold fusion.

With him was the physicist and researcher Giuseppe Levi from the University of Bologna, who also supervised the public demonstration in January.

Together they ran the unit for 18 hours.

“It was extremely interesting. It is clear that this was an internal test that I needed to understand what parameters must be under control during a longer test, but frankly, I wanted to see the device work for hours,” Levi told Ny Teknik

“It was pretty impressive in some respects. First, the repeatability. This is the third time I’ve seen the device, and again it produces energy.”

“The second thing is that this time we loaded the unit with hydrogen at the beginning, and then the bottle was closed. It then worked for 18 hours with the bottle closed. Quite impressive.”

“I weighed container before and after charging, and including the gas we let out to empty the tube of air, the consumption of hydrogen was 0.4 grams. That’s nothing!”

“Minimum power was 15 kilowatts, and that’s a conservative value. I calculated it several times. At night we did a measurement and the device then worked very stable and produced 20 kilowatts.”

“Now that I have seen the device work for so many hours, in my view all chemical energy sources are excluded,” said Giuseppe Levi.

He explained that this time he chose to heat the water without boiling it, to avoid errors.

Initially, the temperature of the inflowing water was seven degrees Celsius and for a while the outlet temperature was 40 degrees Celsius. A flow rate of about one liter per second, equates to a peak power of 130 kilowatts. The power output was later stabilized at 15 to 20 kilowatts.

Levi explained that they did not have a peristaltic pump with sufficient flow, so instead the device was attached directly to the water tap. Therefore the flow was not constant, but by regularly noting the time and reading the input volume on a counter, he controlled the flow.

At night the counter information was recorded with a camera.

According to Levi, the input electrical power to 'ignite' the device was about 1250 watts for five to ten minutes. It was then reduced to about 80 watts, equivalent to the power consumption of the control unit.

“This time I opened the control unit (and examined the interior), as someone said that it could contain a hidden battery. And I can swear in court that the box was empty, except for the control electronics – five very simple PLCs – and it weighed about seven kilograms,” said Levi.

“I have also seen inside the reactor device itself – most of the volume is isolation, and most of the weight of about 30 kg is due to lead.”

He confirmed that the reactor chamber, supposedly containing nickel powder, the secret catalysts and hydrogen gas, had a volume of around one liter. The reactor chamber was the only part he could not inspect.

Levi is now planning more tests and a thorough analysis, before and after operation, of the nickel powder that the energy catalyst is loaded with.

“If I then, using the most accurate methods possible, really see changes in the nuclei, then we have new physics. There is nothing you can say about it,” he stated.

Giuseppe Levi has worked with Sergio Focardi, emeritus professor at the University of Bologna and Rossi’s scientific adviser since four years.

NYT: What would you tell those who doubt your independence?

“If I were an old professor with his career already done, then I would not have anything to risk. But any attempt at fraud on my part would be a terrible personal goal. What could I hope for? To have a title for ten days, and then be thrown from my own department. Because (the matter of) fraud comes up sooner or later. There is no hope for it. So if I ... well, I would be really stupid. Honestly, I would be really stupid!” said Levi.

A one megawatt installation with Rossi's 'energy catalyzer', consisting of one hundred connected 10 kilowatt devices, is supposed to be inaugurated in October in Athens, Greece, run by the newly formed Greek company Defkalion Green Technologies (our inteview here).

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Related: A scientific discussion at the Ny Teknik newsroom on the 'energy catalyzer' with invited Swedish physicists Professor Emeritus at Uppsala University Sven Kullander, and Hanno Essén, associate professor of theoretical physics, entitled: "You have to embrace this".

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READ MORE: Our complete coverage on Rossi's E-cat can be found here.