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Comparative analysis of AC breakdown properties of Jatropha-based ester and other insulating oils: commercial natural ester, synthetic ester, and mineral oil

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Abstract

This article describes an experimental investigation into the AC dielectric strengths of a Jatropha-derived new natural ester (JNE) and compares it with equivalent commercial natural ester (CNE), synthetic ester (SE), and mineral oil (MO) used as a reference sample. The findings indicate that both JNE and CNE have comparable AC breakdown voltages of 74.5 kV and 70.3 kV, respectively, under the test conditions used in this study. However, they exhibit slightly lower breakdown voltages than SE, which displays a breakdown voltage of 79.2 kV. Nevertheless, their AC breakdown voltage is higher than that of mineral oil, which has a value of 68.1 kV. The breakdown voltages of natural esters decreased considerably by around 30% due to aging, unlike SE (~ 17%) or MO (~ 11%). Based on the statistical analysis of breakdown voltage data, it is observed that the Jatropha-derived natural ester (JNE) has a better voltage withstand capacity than the commercial natural ester (CNE) after aging, as the former only showed a 30% decline compared to a 48% decline in the latter.

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The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings will be made available on request.

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Funding

The author is thankful to Science and Engineering Research Board, DST, Government of India (F. No. EEQ/2019/000394), for funding this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, NERIST, Nirjuli, 791109, Arunachal Pradesh, India

    Anu Kumar Das

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  1. Anu Kumar Das
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Contributions

Anu Kumar Das is the sole author for this work and has contributed to the following—Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing—original draft; Writing—review & editing.

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Correspondence to Anu Kumar Das.

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Highlights

• Jatropha ester’s AC dielectric strength vs. natural/synthetic esters & mineral oil were compared.

• Natural esters’ breakdown voltages comparable, lower than synthetic ester but higher than mineral oil.

• Aging reduces natural esters’ AC breakdown voltage by 30%, followed by SE (~ 17%) and MO (~ 11%).

• JNE has better voltage withstand post-aging than CNE. JNE declined 30%, while CNE declined 48%.

• Viscosity and ionization potential of TAGs in natural esters significantly influence AC breakdown strength.

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Das, A.K. Comparative analysis of AC breakdown properties of Jatropha-based ester and other insulating oils: commercial natural ester, synthetic ester, and mineral oil. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04779-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04779-5

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