Compressed gas is an essential ingredient for high-voltage (HV) applications, especially as an insulating medium. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas due to its excellent insulating features is being preferred for decades and is widely utilized in applications such as gas-insulated switchgear, gas-insulated bus bars, circuit-breakers (CB), etc. But its global warming potential has been reported at the utmost harmful level. Many environmental anomalies have been produced by greenhouse gases, the reason why this problem has got extraordinary consideration, and there is an emergent need to introduce some eco-friendly substitute for SF6. Theresearch was started almost 4 decades ago to find a replacement for SF6; however, progress in recent years is much better than earlier. Now, many alternatives have been searched out, and tests are being performed to find the best of them. In this study, the progress of some eco-friendly gases such as natural gases, trifluoroiodomethane, dichlorodifluoromethane, tetrafluoroethane, perfluoroketones, and heptafluoroisobutyronitrile has been summarized, keeping in view the basic physical properties and electrical insulating features. Decomposed by-products and boiling point were also discussed in detail, and the conclusion deduced that perfluoroketone and heptafluoroisobutyronitrile, with mixture of natural gases, show much better potential to replace SF6 in many of the HVapplications; later one has a bit upper edge.
Cite this article as: T. Ahmad Raza, M. Kamran, M. Umar Khallidoon & M. Niaz Akhtar. Potential of eco-friendly gases to substitute SF6 for electrical HVapplications as insulating medium: A review. Turk J Electr Power Energy Syst, 2022; 2(1): 94-102.