Innovation or scam? Epeu Next Level presents hydrogen-plasma heating system

Epeu Next Level unveiled a hydrogen-plasma heating system at a recent event in Germany, its home market. It claims the system can easily replace gas boilers in apartment buildings, but it has failed to explain why it apparently contradicts the first law of thermodynamics.

Image: Epeu Next Level

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From pv magazine Germany

If you enter the search term “hydrogen plasma” into an internet search engine, the first entry you get is for the “Wendelstein X-7” nuclear fusion reactor in Greifswald, Germany. The second result takes you to the website of Epeu Next Level Hydrogen, a German manufacturer of hydrogen heaters from Duisburg.

Both systems appear to consume more energy than they produce. Physicists acknowledge that further research and development could theoretically change this for the first technology, but not the second. The hydrogen plasma heater developed by Epeu Next Level Hydrogen seems to challenge the first law of thermodynamics, which governs the conservation of energy.

However, the company showcased the system to an interested audience at a recent solar trade fair in Germany attended by pv magazine. The booth drew significant attention, and many installers received detailed explanations of the system. Whether they shared doubts about its claims remains unclear, but its functionality and efficiency raise questions.

A company representative said the system is designed to replace gas boilers in older apartment buildings, addressing a market gap where heat pumps are challenging to integrate. Existing pipes and radiators can remain in use, though Epeu also offers its own radiators, which it claims are more efficient.

The heating system consists of a 12.5-liter water tank filled with tap water during installation. Four closely arranged metal rods in the center of the tank carry voltage, creating arcs that pass through the water from rod to rod. These arcs split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The system reportedly generates plasma when hydrogen is stored in the tank, but the exact mechanism remains unclear. The representative only said that hydrogen achieves a higher chemical potential. When ignited, the hydrogen generates heat, which the heat exchanger diverts into the boiler and feeds into the water. The combustion of hydrogen also produces water. Once the process completes, it repeats several times per second.

The company representative showed a video of the Epeu Next Level heating system with the lid removed, offering a view of the boiler's interior during operation. The video displayed several successive explosions below the water's surface, with bright yellow flashes repeatedly flaring up, resembling underwater welding work. The system emitted bangs and clatters multiple times per second. The representative claimed that the plant is well insulated, and the explosions were inaudible. The system, he said, operates more quietly than any gas heating system.

The representative discussed the system’s efficiency, explaining that the heating system consumes 6 kW of electrical output and provides a thermal heating value of 12 kW through the described process. He claimed that while heat pumps typically achieve an advertised coefficient of performance (COP) of three or four only under optimal conditions, Epeu's system delivers an efficiency of 200% in all weather conditions.

The pv magazine editorial team contacted several research institutes and physics departments to describe the heater. All the physicists, without exception, deemed the functionality and efficiency outlined in the description fundamentally impossible, although most wished to remain anonymous. Some cited the website's information as poor, misleading, and contradictory.

However, Matthias Bartelsmann, professor at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Heidelberg, did not hold back.

“The system, as described, does split water electrolytically and brings its components into a chemically higher state, but it returns to the starting material water,” said Bartelsmann. “The energy yield in this way cannot be higher than the amount of energy previously used.”

He added that even if the system produced and burned hydrogen, it would dissipate less energy as heat than the amount it received electrically. Anything else would violate the first law of thermodynamics.

Volker Quaschning, a professor at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW), also said he finds it difficult to understand the company's description.

“The advantages of the system are not apparent, the way it works is not described in a comprehensible way,” said Quaschning. “Test reports with verifiable efficiencies are not available on the website. At best, the system is comparable to a direct electric heating system, which is inefficient as a heating system and has very high operating costs.”

Epeu Next Level Hydrogen has not responded to requests for clarification from pv magazine.

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