review · IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
Petroleum-derived mineral oils used in transformers face inevitable future shortages, leading to increased interest in biodegradable vegetable oils as sustainable alternatives. Vegetable oils consist primarily of natural esters, which are more economical than synthetic esters and naturally abundant in certain regions. Beyond power transformers, these liquids have potential uses in capacitors, cables, circuit breakers, tap changers, and general heat transfer systems. To improve their electrical insulation performance, researchers incorporate nano-additives to create nanofluids with enhanced dielectric characteristics. This synthesis examines how these nano-additives influence key electrical properties, specifically alternating current, direct current, and impulse breakdown voltages, alongside the dielectric constant and dissipation factor. It also consolidates the underlying physical mechanisms responsible for these changes and outlines prospects for future research into developing these advanced insulating fluids.
Electrical grid equipment relies heavily on petroleum-based oils that present environmental risks and face depletion. Biodegradable vegetable oils enhanced with nano-additives offer a cleaner, renewable alternative that could improve high-voltage equipment performance. Understanding how nano-additives modify dielectric behaviour helps guide the transition towards safer, more sustainable electrical infrastructure across power transmission and distribution networks.
The technology is targeted at manufacturers and operators of transformers, capacitors, cables, and circuit breakers seeking sustainable alternatives to mineral oils. Because the work is a review compiling experimental findings and physical mechanisms from multiple research studies, the underlying nanofluid formulations remain primarily in the applied research and testing stage, requiring further research before widespread industrial adoption in commercial power hardware.
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Many experimental studies were conducted by various researchers using vegetable oils as transformer oil alternatives. The use of these vegetable oils as dielectric oils for transformers has the potential to minimize the environmental effect of other conventional oils since vegetable oils are biodegradable. In addition, present-day mineral oils are derived from petroleum products; thus, mineral oils will inevitably run out in the future, and major shortages may occur. So, vegetable oils can be the potential candidates to replace mineral oils in the future for transformer applications. Also, these can be potential candidates in heat transfer applications, capacitors, cables, circuit breakers, and tap changers. Vegetable oils are mainly natural esters extracted from natural products. Natural esters are more economical than synthetic esters and sometimes exist naturally in large quantities in certain countries. To get enhanced dielectric properties of natural ester dielectric liquids, many studies propose using nano-additives to form what are called nanofluids. This comprehensive review presents the effect of nano-additives on the ac, dc, and impulse breakdown voltage, dielectric constant, and dissipation factor of natural ester dielectric liquids. The results obtained by various researchers on the dielectric properties of these oils are discussed, as well as clarified physical mechanisms, along with future research prospects.
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DOI: 10.1109/tdei.2023.3277412
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