Dr. Case's Experiment: Run 3 7MAY98
Scott R. Little, EarthTech International, Inc.
*** This test was conducted with the real catalyst! ***
(This experiment employed apparatus described here. )
Run 3 employed the recommended G75-E catalyst from United Catalysts. Inc. Otherwise it was very similar to Run 2. In fact horribly similar!
Despite having the recommended catalyst, there was no sign of the desired effect!!!
The run started with about 30 minutes of zero heater power with the chamber under vacuum. Then the chamber was filled to 50 psi with H2 and the heaters were supplied with 40 watts. As before I stepped down the input power until, at 1.5 hours, the input power was set at 20 watts where it remained for the rest of the run. At 2.0 hours, the chamber was vented, evacuated and refilled with 50 psi of H2. At 3.3 hours, this process was repeated. At 5.5 hours, the chamber was vented, evacuated, and filled with 50 psi of D2. There was no discernible affect on the catalyst temperature (Tbtm)!!!! At 9.2 hours I vented and evacuated the chamber again. This time I left it under vacuum for about 20 minutes and then filled it with 50 psi of D2 gas. Again, nothing happened to the catalyst temperature!! At 11.1 hours, I turned off the heater power, ending the run.
The Pin and Pout traces stayed right on top of each, confirming that no excess heat was generated from the G75-E catalyst in this experiment.
I have already called Dr. Case and discussed this situation with him. He did not have any immediate suggestions (other than the 2nd filling of D2, which I tried). I have faxed him these results plus a description of our apparatus and we will talk again tomorrow.
BTW, I believe the large rise in Tmid and smaller rise in Ttop that occur when the chamber is evacuated are due to conduction of heat crom the catalyst up the stems of these temperature probes.
Comments are most welcome.