BlackLight Power, Inc.

Psychologists call it cognitive dissonance: the mental torment that comes from being confronted by two fundamentally opposed propositions. Deciding between them often provokes powerful emotions – just ask Dr Randell Mills, whose claims have a habit of triggering severe bouts of cognitive dissonance among otherwise perfectly rational people.

And no wonder: this medical student turned physicist claims to have debunked the textbook account of how atoms are put together – and in the process discovered a new source of clean, cheap energy.

From the company's website:

BlackLight Power Inc., is the pioneer of technology based on the patented process of releasing chemical energy from hydrogen called the "BlackLight Process." More specifically, energy is released as the electrons of hydrogen atoms are induced by a catalyst to transition to lower-energy levels (i.e. drop to lower base orbits around each atom's nucleus) corresponding to fractional quantum numbers. The lower-energy atomic hydrogen product called "hydrino" reacts with another reactant supplied to the reaction cell to form a hydride ion bound to the other reactant to constitute a novel proprietary compound. As hydrogen atoms are normally found bound together as molecules, molecular hydrogen is dissociated into atomic hydrogen in the cell by a hot metal catalyst, by a glow discharge plasma, or a microwave plasma. A gaseous catalyst is formed from a source of catalyst by the exemplary methods of heating a nonvolatile catalyst such as potassium metal to form atomic potassium catalysts or by ionizing a gas such as helium to form catalyst. The catalyst causes the normal hydrogen atoms to transition to lower-energy states by allowing their electrons to fall to smaller radii around the nucleus with a release of energy that is intermediate between chemical and nuclear energies. The reaction creates or greatly intensifies a plasma (a hot ionized glowing gas). The products are power, plasma, light, and proprietary novel compounds.

Laboratory scale devices demonstrating means of extracting the energy have been operated at BlackLight and at independent laboratories. Results to date indicate that the process can eventually provide economically competitive products in a wide range of applications including lighting, thermal, electric power generation, and motive power.

BlackLight's plasma energy cells, even in prototype stage, are frequently operating at power densities rivaling those of conventional power plants with hundreds of times the energy release as combustion of the hydrogen fuel with low temperature start-up and high-temperature capability, commercially important features. The plasma is permissive of a direct plasma-to-electric conversion technology, as well as the production of electricity by conventional heat engines. BlackLight currently believes that the scale-up of energy cells to commercial power generation levels will require the application of existing industry knowledge in catalysis and power engineering.
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If this proves to be commerically viable, get your checkbooks ready to dump money on an eventual IPO...some big names are already on board:

Dr. Shelby T. Brewer: Assistant Secretary of Energy under Reagan

Michael H. Jordan: Chairman of the Board and CEO of Electronic Data Systems Corporation

Michael P. Kalleres: Retired Commander, U.S. Second Fleet in the Atlantic/NATO Striking Fleet; on call as a consultant member of the Defense Science Board, the Naval Studies Board of the National Academy of Science

Merrill A. McPeak: Former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force

Neil Moskowitz: CFO Credit Suisse First Boston, spent 10 years at Goldman Sachs

George A. Sawyer: Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Reagan

October 6, 1999 REPRINT FROM DOW JONES NEWSWIRES