Decomposition analysis of camellia oil under electric fields: An experimental and molecular simulation study

Abstract

As an environmental vegetable insulation oil, camellia oil will be decomposed into dissolvable gases in the presence of electric field. In this work, the characteristic gases of camellia oil were measured by experiments with partial discharge and breakdown discharge, and the decomposition process of triglyceride, which is the main component of camellia oil, was investigated using molecular simulations (MSs). The experimental results demonstrate that H2 is the main characteristic gas caused by the partial discharge while C2H2 is the main decomposition products for the breakdown discharge. According to the MS results, the C–O bond connected to the center carbon in glycerol breaks initially when the electric field strength is lower, and the C–(O–C) bond in the triglyceride molecule breaks while the electric field strength exceeded critical value with increase of voltage. The decomposition gas generates gradually through decomposition and recombination of radicals, H2 and CH4 are the main gas products generated by triglyceride with low electric field strength, while the C2H2 increases gradually and becomes the main gas product with the energy of the system accumulated.