Ricerc@Sapienza

This paper describes the work carried out by the Italian Institutional Working Group on Natural Esters; this Group has been promoted by the University of Roma 'La Sapienza', the National Firefighters Authority, the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) and the Department for Geological Survey of Italy (ISPRA) with the objective of further validating the real possibility of risk mitigation for humans and environment through a more widespread use of a new generation of transformers insulated with natural ester liquids.

In the framework of the activities of the Italian Institutional Working Group on Natural Esters, smoke production under controlled fire conditions of such innovative insulating liquids has been studied in comparison with that released by traditional mineral oil, normally used in electrical power transformers. This comparison has been made in terms of solid particulates, carbon monoxide (CO), Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and Aldehydes in different conditions of greater or lower presence of atmospheric oxygen.