SUITABILITY OF SOYBEAN SEED OIL AS TRANSFORMER OIL

In search of solution to the harmful ecological problems due to toxicity and non-biodegradability posed by conventional transformer insulation oil (mineral oil), the production of transformer oil from soybean seed oil (vegetable oil) was carried out. The oil was extracted using n-hexane and was refined. The transformer oil was produced by transesterification and was characterized using American Society for Testing Material (ASTM) standard test. The solvent employed gave good yield of oil from the seeds. The result of characterization  shows that the density is 0.940  (g ml–1), viscosity, 7.29 (cst), Flash Point 250oC, and dielectric strength of 21(KV) values, of Soybean  seed oil  as transformer oil produced under optimized conditions meet the ASTM standard and was within the acceptable limits as transformer oil. These showed that soybean seed oil is a potential feed stock for the production of transformer oil.