Impact of FeO3 on the AC breakdown voltage and acidity index of a palm kernel oil methyl ester based nanofluid

Abstract

This paper focuses on the analysis of the impact of Magnetic (FeO 3) nanoparticles (NPs) on the Breakdown Voltage (BDV) and Acidity Index (AI) of Palm Kernel Oil Methyl Esters (PKOME). Several nanofluid samples with different concentrations of FeO 3 nanoparticles were developed by dispersing them through an ultrasonic homogenizer. In this work, three concentrations based on the weight of the samples are considered 0.10 wt%, 0.15 wt% and 0.20 wt% . The measurement of the breakdown voltage of the samples are done in AC according to the protocol of ASTM D1816; while that of the acid number is done by titration according to IEC 296. The different values of BDV and AI of the samples are obtained before and after addition of the nanoparticles. The results obtained shows a 40% improvement in breakdown voltage for the 0.10 wt% concentration, 20% and 37.3% respectively for the 0.15 wt% and 0.20 wt% FeO3 concentrations. The Acidity Index, for the concentration of 0.10 wt%, we have an increase of 356%; the concentrations of 0.15 wt% and 0.20 wt% experience a growth of 317% and 265% respectively. It should be noted here that the increase in AI value is rather detrimental to our PKOME.

Keywords

• Palm kernel oil methyl esters
• FeO3
• Breakdown voltage AC
• Acidity index