19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017
Investigations on Mustard Oil for Its Suitability as
Insulating Fluid in Transformers
J. S. Chahal
Department of Electrical Engineering
I.K. Gujral Punjab Technical University
Kapurthala, Punjab, India
e-mail: jaschahal@ptu.ac.in
Abstract—The power transformers are vital components in
the transmission system. In transformers, mineral oil based
insulating fluids are used which are non-biodegradable, therefore
disposing the aged mineral oils is very challenging. From the last
few years, the power utilities all over the world have started
exploring biodegradable insulating fluids as alternatives to
currently available mineral oil based insulating fluids. The
insulating oil is characterized by the properties such as high
breakdown voltage (BDV), high flash point and low pour point
among others. The vegetable oils which have some good physical,
chemical and dielectric properties are sunflower oil, canola oil,
palm oil, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, olive oil and mustard oil.
Except for mustard oil, good literature is available for various
thermal, dielectric and aging tests on these oils. Various
researchers have demonstrated that adding nanoparticles to base
fluids can enhance thermal properties of insulating oils and also
increases life of kraft paper or press board (used in transformers)
compared to mineral oils. The present investigation is to
determine the effect of temperature on the BDV of mustard oil
based nanofluids. In the present work Al2O3 (size < 50nm)
nanoparticles are used to prepare mustard oil based
nanoinsulating fluids. The prepared nano fluids had been tested
for its BDV strength at different temperatures.
Keywords—transformer; insulating fluid; vegetable oils;
mineral oils; nanoinsulating fluid
I. INTRODUCTION
The growing environmental concerns have raised the
demand for clean energy. The electrical energy has
considerable share among other forms of energy. The
generation, transmission and distribution systems are main
components in an electrical energy system. A transformer is a
key element in transmission and distribution systems and acts
as an interface between these two. Therefore, special care is
always given to transformers to ensure uninterrupted power
supply. In any transformer, insulation is a critical parameter
and it is mainly provided by mineral oil, pressboard and kraft
paper. The insulating oil also acts as coolant in transformer
thus transferring the heat produced into surroundings. The
insulating oil is characterized by following properties such as
high breakdown voltage, high flash point and low pour point
among others [1-3]. The mineral oil which is largely used as
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C. C. Reddy
Department of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
Rupnagar, India
e-mail: reddy@iitrpr.ac.in
insulating oil in transformer has major disadvantage of non
degradability in nature [4-6].
For the last fifteen years, the considerable interest had
been generated for alternative fluids in transformer, which are
eco-friendly and at the same time have good thermal and
insulating properties. The research shows that natural esters
(refined from animal or vegetable products) and synthetic
esters, which have been developed by researchers, have good
suitability to act as insulating oil in place of mineral oil. The
suitability varies from type of natural oil used and also upon
type of application. Further, the experimental results suggest
that with the addition of conducting or semi-conducting
nanoparticles to the base fluids, its breakdown strength gets
enhanced [7-8].
T. V. Oommen [1] from ABB Power Inc. Ltd. proposed that
vegetable oils can replace mineral oils in distribution and
power transformers provided these oils are treated for
improvement in stability and other factors before putting these
oils into service. The authors have developed a fluid from
vegetable oils named as BIOTEMPTM which has favourable
properties to act as insulating oil in transformer.
Inmaculada Fernández et al [2] presented a review paper
on comparative evaluation of Sunflower oil, Canola oil, Palm
oil, Rapeseed oil, Soybean oil and Olive oil. The authors
presented qualitative comparison of vegetable oils for
physical, chemical and dielectric properties of dielectric oils as
well as their behaviour when these fluids have been aged. On
the basis of results, the authors suggested that sunflower oil,
rapeseed, canola and soybean oil have very favourable
properties to act as insulating oil.
Lijun Yang et al [4] had investigated the effect of
vegetable oils on life of transformer paper (Kraft paper) using
accelerated thermal aging tests. It was established through
various tests that useful life of kraft paper can be extended by
vegetable oils.
A. Raymon et al [6] presented comparison of nano ester
based insulating fluids. Authors used sunflower oil, soybean
oil, rapeseed oil, rice bran oil, coconut oil and cotton seed oil
for study. In these oils, different types of conducting, semi
conducting and non-conducting nano particles were added
with different concentrations. The prepared oil samples were
 19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017
tested for thermal and electrical properties such as flash point,
viscosity and AC breakdown voltage. Authors’ demonstrated
through experiments that breakdown voltage of natural esters
was enhanced compared to mineral oils at higher temperatures
(above 45°C). The addition of nanoparticles resulted in
considerable variation of viscosity (downward side) ranging
from 3 to 23%.
Although research has been done for various vegetable oils
for the characterization of their physiochemical and dielectric
properties, it is believed that mustard oil has not received
much attention yet for its suitability as insulating fluid in
transformers. The authors are working towards the
characterization of mustard oil based nanofluids for its
physiochemical and dielectric properties as per IEC and
ASTM standards. In the present work the effect of temperature
on the breakdown strength of mustard oil based Al2O3
nanofluids is discussed.
II. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
In the present investigation two types of experiments were
conducted using a test cell, Fig.1, having polished brass
electrodes free from defects to avoid the possibility of
unwanted corona discharge. In Type I experiments fresh
mustard oil samples were tested for breakdown strength under
different temperatures (30ºC to 80ºC). In Type II experiments
mustard oil based Al2O3 nanofluids were tested for breakdown
strength under different temperatures.
Fig.1: Test cell with electrodes separated by 2.5mm gap
A. Preparation of Oil samples
The fresh mustard oil is filtered through a 5μm sintered
glass filter to remove dust particles, if present. The filtered oil
is put in vacuum oven for degassing. The oil sample was
tested for the presence of moisture content using Karl Fisher
titration method and it was found to be below 30ppm at room
temperature.
B. Preparation of Mustard oil based Al2O3 nanofluids
Mustard oil based nanofluids were prepared by mixing
with Al2O3 nanoparticles (size <50nm) concentration of 0.1%
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wt.. The nanoparticles were dispersed by using a magnetic
stirrer for 30 minutes. The magnetic stirring helped to dissolve
the nanopowders evenly in the base fluid, but the energy is not
sufficient to break any agglomeration of nanoparticles.
Consequently, the ultrasonic mixing device was used to break
the agglomerations of nanoparticles.
To study the effect of temperature on breakdown
properties of oils, prepared samples were treated at varying
temperature from 30°C to 80°C. After giving heat treatment to
each sample at particular temperature, samples were subjected
to AC voltage and the voltage with rise rate kept at 1kV/s. The
voltage is increased until the oil sample broke down.
III. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
In Type I experiment, the prepared mustard oil samples
were heated at different temperatures and were kept for 24
hours. After heating at a particular temperature the oil sample
was subjected to AC voltage at frequency of 50Hz. The
experimental setup is shown in Fig.2. At the occurrence of
breakdown of oil sample a soot was created as shown in Fig.
3. The experimental procedure was repeated with fresh sample
and results show a similar trend. The result pertaining to a
typical Type I experiment is shown in Fig. 4.
Fig.2: Experimental setup for AC breakdown test on Oil
Fig.3: Creation of soot after breakdown in Mustard oil
In Type II experiment, the mustard oil based nanofluids
with Al2O3 particles were heated at same temperature and
under same conditions as of Type I experiment. After heating
for 24 hours each sample was subjected to AC voltage at
frequency of 50Hz with same rate of voltage rise as of Type I
 19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017

experiment. Fig. 5 shows the result of breakdown electric filed decreased. In Type II experiment, in which Al2O3
v/s temperature for a typical experiment of Type II. nanoparticles concentration of 0.1% wt. were added into
mustard oil, shows that with increase in temperature
breakdown strength of nanofluids increased considerably. This
30
suggests that addition of nanoparticles may inhibit the
Dielectric strength (kV/mm)

25 breakdown process. The enhancement of breakdown strength

20 18 19
17 18 17
of nanofluids at elevated temperatures may be due to increased
15 thermal fluctuations of nanostructures giving rise to enhanced
15 diffusion properties of nanonfluids [8].
10 As in a power transformer, kraft papers are also used to
provide insulation, therefore further investigations are needed
5 to see the effect of nanofluids on aging of oil in the presence
0 of kraft paper. Further the moisture content in the oil can
0 20 40 60 80 100 affect the breakdown properties of oils, therefore it needs to be
studied. The authors are working towards it.
Temperature (°C)

Fig.4 Average breakdown electric field of plain mustard oil in Type I

REFERENCES
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Dielectric strength (kV/mm)

25 evaluation of alternative Àuids for power transformers”, Electric Power

25 23 Systems Research, 98 (2013) 58-69
21
18 [3] S. Singha, R. Asano Jr., G. Frimpong, C. Clair Claiborne and D. Cherry,
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15
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0
[5] M. Augusta, G. Martins, A. R. Gomes, “Comparative study of the
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It is mentioned here that in present investigation a [7] D. E. A. Mansour, A. M. Elsaeed and M. A. Izzularab, "The role of
interfacial zone in dielectric properties of transformer oil-based
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[8] A. Katiyar, P. Dhar, T. Nandi, L. S. Maganti and S. K. Das, "Enhanced
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IV. CONCLUSIONS IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, vol. 23, no.
The analysis of results of the present investigation 6, pp. 3494-3503, Dec. 2016.
shows that in Type I experiment with the increase in
temperature the breakdown electric field is marginally

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