Effect of Esterification and Alkali Neutralization on Pongamia insulating oil

Abstract

Insulating oil is used as insulant and coolant in transformers and other such electrical equipments. Presently, mineral oils are widely used in transformers and electrical equipments as insulating oils. These mineral oils are less biodegradable. Hence, from the environment point of view, vegetable oils are used as alternative to mineral insulating oils. This paper investigates the performance of critical characteristics of crude pongamia oil. This non-edible pongamia oil is extracted from seeds. It is a source of sustainable and environment-friendly insulating oil. Crude oil is processed by esterification and alkali neutralization methods to enhance the performance properties for better insulation efficiency. Also processing methods, such as esterification and alkali neutralization, are compared. It is found that esterification the process shows better performance with respect to acidity and electrical performance, but reduces flash and fire point properties. Alkali neutralized process also show similar performance but retains high flash point and fire point values. Further processed oils are evaluated for rapid thermo-oxidative conditioned oils.