Potential of Canola Oil Utilization in Dielectric Paper Fabrication Using Unbleached Bagasse Pulp

The oil-paper insulation is a type of an inexpensive combination insulation system in oil-filled power transformers. In this study the dielectric and strength properties of Canola oil and mineral oil impregnated hand-sheet papers were investigated. All hand sheets were made of unbleached bagasse soda pulp with two different freeness levels of 200 ± 25 ml, CSF and 400± 25 ml,CSF. After drying the hand sheets to zero moisture content, degassing and drying of the oils were conducted. The impregnation process was then carried out under vacuum and heat condition. Finally the impregnated papers were examined for evaluating strength and dielectric properties such as tensile strength, capacitance, insulation resistance, dielectric constant, loss tangent, and breakdown voltage. The results showed that refining will give rise to enhance the dielectric and mechanical properties such as capacity, dielectric constant, and tensile index. The vegetable oil regardless of the lower dielectric resistance and the higher loss tangent has better performance in comparison with mineral oil.