INTRODUCTION

Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) has been used for a long time in electricity utility industry especially in electrical insulation of high voltage equipment such as circuit breaker and switchgear. The main reason of SF6 is being used in electrical insulation because of its outstanding electrical, physical and chemical properties. Therefore in late 1950s the introduction of SF6 significantly benefits the electricity utility and allowed for replacement of flammable oil and any other gaseous uses in 1930s such as Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) [1]. Basically the characteristic of SF6 is odourless, non-toxic, colourless, non-flammable gas and about 5 times heavier than air. As a proof, if we inhale SF6 our voice will change (like cartoon) because of the different characteristic of air medium which means the voice pitch travel faster through air than the inert gas because the inert gas is 5 times heavier than air [2]. Besides that, SF6 is a very stable gas and have a high dielectric strength which makes this is why the electricity utility industry relies on SF6 for insulation. Other than that, if we inhale Unfortunately, anything exist in this world have its own advantages and disadvantages to the surrounding. Therefore the objective of this assignment is to get the knowledge and discuss on how the SF6 can affect us in daily life.

DISCUSSION Effect of Using Sulphur Hexafluoride

We often heard that SF6 have many advantages such as the stability of the chemical composition and has high breakdown strength, but it also has its own negative impacts. Basically the negative effect of using SF6 is more likely going to effect the environment.

In ideal condition there will be no gaseous will be emitted to atmosphere because all the parameters used are in a perfect conditions. Unfortunately in real life we cannot assume that everything is going to be perfect like what being assume in ideal condition. In reality there is some leakage which may occurs because of the age of equipment increase from time to time. Besides that, leakage also may occur when installation and maintenance are being conduct. Global Warming Impact Based on research, one pound of SF6 has a same global warming impact of 11 tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). In other words SF6 has a global warming potential (GWP) of 22,500 times more effective in trapping infra-red radiation than CO2 and lasting at the atmosphere for 520 years [3]. 1 kg SF6 = 23,900 kg CO2 Moreover, based on Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics paper done by Advance Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), experiments have been conducted and it shows that global emissions by SF6 gas are increasing gradually from 1970s to 2008 (Figure 1). Besides that this paper also shows that this emission rate have increased by almost 50% for the last 5-10 years [4].

Figure 1: Global SF6 emission rate from 1970 to 2008

Furthermore, measurement and monitoring have been carried out by AGAGE and NOAA to find about which country produces the highest emission rate of SF6. Unfortunately based on their findings, the highest emission rate produce is driven by emissions from Asian countries which never reporting any detailed of emission to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) such as country like China, India and South Korea. Moreover, their findings also show that, countries which are reported to the UNFCCC about their emissions are taking lightly about emissions they produce and underestimate it [5]. Human Health Impact Basic properties of SF6 is non-toxic but it still can impact the human health because of its several by-products such as Sulphur tetrafluoride (SF4), Silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4),
Sulphuryl

fluoride (SO2F2), Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and Hafnium (HF) which will cause irritating to the eyes, nose and throat. There are many others SF6 by-product which will affect our internal organ [6]. Impact to the Cell and Animal Further study has been discovered that SF6 by-product also have impact to the cell and animal. An example of by-product is S2F10 which is 43 times more toxic to the cell structure than other by-product tested. Animal study shows that it only can affect them when they are inhaling the gas which will extremely irritating them. If they are exposed to the gas for a long term, their lungs also will be damaged [6].

Sulphur Hexafluoride Emission Control

Since 1997, the Kyoto Protocol [7] has labelled SF6 as one of global warming gas and they began to control the emission rate and also the use of the gas in electrical utility industry. Until today scientist and engineers are still finding the best solution to substitute the use of SF 6 for insulation in high voltage equipment because none of the other gas has the excellent properties in electrical insulation and current interruption performance as SF6.

Therefore, to overcome this problem at this moment United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced a voluntary program in 1999 in order to encourage the electricity utility reduce the emission of SF6 to the environment [8]. Overall, this program is about improving the utility gas management practices and there are 10 steps to reduce the SF 6 emissions [8]. This program shows positive and remarkable results by the electrical utility and they managed to reduce the emission of gas by improving their gas management practices. As a results, in Japan emissions were reduced from 700 tons/year to 70 tons/year in 2005 [9]. Several steps reducing the gas emission will be discussed in this assignment [8]. 1. Uncovering the Sources of Emissions The first thing that needs to be done by the utility company is identifying any potential emissions source. Basically emissions sources are from the leakage through seals because of aging factor of the equipment. Other source of leakage is because of the improper handling during the installation and servicing operation. Therefore the utility needs to ask themselves are they doing this job properly? If not, they are one of the biggest contributors of SF6 to the world. 2. Employee education In order for this to programme to success is by giving a specialised training to the employee about the effect of SF6 to surrounding especially environment. From this training the employee will know how to handling the SF6 during installation and maintenance. The most important thing is they need to get the environmental awareness training so that the employee will be doing the job properly because they know their responsibility the world. 3. Equipment Upgrades and Maintenance Most of the gear that used SF6 as insulation is designed to be for lifetime or usually in the 20-30 year range. Therefore, by knowing this most of the utility company will take it lightly about the maintenance to the equipment. They need

to be aware that leakage maybe occurs because of the equipment damages such as worn bushing, seals and manifold. By having schedule checking on the equipment can significantly impact the reduction of the gas.

Sulphur Hexafluoride Replacement

Gas Insulation (Development of SF6 substitute gas) 1. Gas mixture c-C4F8 is among the chosen gas to replace SF6. Unfortunately this gas only exist at high liquefaction temperature and also very expensive. Therefore to increase the liquefaction temperature, the gas needs to be mixed with Nitrogen gas (N 2) and also Carbon Dioxide gas (CO2). c-C4F8 has a dielectric strength 1.25 to 1.31 times higher than SF 6 and the global warming potential is 36% lower than SF6 [10]. However the c-C4F8 has a very high liquefaction temperature. The breakdown voltage also increases with pressure until reaching asymptote. CO2 gas also have been considered to replace the SF6 because the gas having a breakdown characteristic up to 2Mpa in concentric cylinder electrodes [11]. Unfortunately the CO2 must be in range of 1.0-1.5 MPa or higher to produce electrical insulation comparable with SF6 [12].

Solid Insulation Based on CIGRE report [13], scientist and engineers has found that nanodielectric is very useful for solid insulation in the future application. Figure 2 is summary of nanocomposite with their possible advantages in electrical insulation and their potential in applications in electric power equipment.

Figure 2: The effect and application of nanocomposite [14] Liquid Insulation (Biodegradable) Since the worlds demand for environmental friendly liquid to replace mineral insulating oils, many studies has been conducted focusing on natural esters from plants for example soya, sunflower and peanut to replace SF6. This is because the natural esters having biodegradability from 95-100 %, non-toxic and high water soluble compare to mineral oils [15]. Furthermore, 6.6-kV, 2,000-kVa transformer with palm fatty acid ester (PFAE) insulation oil has excellent insulation performance with lower viscosity and reduced flow electrification and charging characteristics [16]. The challenge dealing with biodegradable transformer is to extend the use of ester for larger power transformer.

Table 2 show the comparison of properties of various dielectric fluids use in power equipment
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Based on the table 2, it shows that 20 cSt silicon have the most outstanding insulation oil properties and make it the most preferable insulation oil to be used [17]. Japan has been using 50 cSt silicone oil for many years with NOMEX insulation for train traction transformer and recently they have develop 20 cSt silicon oil insulation for power transformer [18].

Development of Sulphur Hexafluoride

Since SF6 majorly used by electrical utility system, many development related to the usage of it has been done. Recently ABB has launch the first ever SF6 recycling centre in Sydney, Australia. Maybe some of us might think this recycle insulation gas cannot perform any better than the new gas but AAB managed to develop new technology that can produced a SF 6 with purity of 99.99 % as in accordance with technical grade IEC 60376 (the standard of new gas). In other words these enable the gas to be reused again and again. Besides that, recycle SF6 can help reducing carbon emission and save up the cost up to 30% [19]. Some of the critics received, the leakage also may occurs during the recycle process which may affect the environment and employee. This new technology is fully automated cryogenic SF6 purification plant in the world, since it is fully automated so no employee is need during the recycle period and this technology is design to make it free from SF6 leakage during any operation in the recycle process. The different of this technology from the past is, it can efficiently recycle SF6 irrespective of the type or levels of contamination which before this the technology is suffer from an ability to treat all contaminants level in one process [19].

Figure 3 ABB proposed SF6 life cycle

CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, based on the literature review has been done, SF6 gas insulation is demand by the electrical utility because stability of its chemical properties, high dielectric characteristic and also cheaper than any other gaseous. Im agree that SF6 produces a greenhouse and harmful to our health. However, many solutions have been developed in order to reduce the effect of the gas both for the environment and for health which practically shows a positive result. Besides that, company such as ABB has done many research and development project to make SF6 safe to be used. Therefore, electrical utility industries play an important role to help in reducing the emission because the source of emission is produce by them. At this moment, we are depending for SF6 and hopefully the scientist and engineers will find another gas for insulation which has the characteristic of SF6 but does not produce any greenhouse effect and safe for our future generation.

REFERENCES

[1] D. A. H. S. Hatch, "A Replacement for SF6: TheMagShieldSystem," in EPA Conference, 2000. [2] B. R. M. M. Rigby, "History of atmospheric SF6," Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 10305-10320, 2010. [3] Steve, "51 Weird Vocal Science," YouTube, United States, 2006. [4] H. K. Wolfgang Degen, "Sulfur Hexafluoride SF6," Sulfur Hexafluoride SF6, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 13, 2008. [5] United States Environmental Protection Agency, "SF6 Emission Reduction Partnership for Electric Power Systems," EPA, United States, 2010. [6] I. Consulting, "Byproducts of Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) Use in the Electric Power Industry," EPA, Washington, DC, January 2002 . [7]United Nations, Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1997 [8] Robert Mueller, "10 Steps to Help Reduce SF6 Emissions in T&D," Airgas inc, United States, 2010. [9] L. G. Christophorou, J. K. Olthoff, and D. S. Green, Gases for electrical insulation and arc interruption: Possible present and future alternatives to pure SF6, National Institute of Standards and Technology technical note 1425, Nov. 1997. [10] B. Wu, D. Xiao, S. Qin, and D. Huang, Research on lighting impulse breakdown characteristic of c-C4F8 and N2 gas mixture in rod-plane gaps, presented at XVI International Conference on Gas Discharge and their Applications, Xian, China, 2006. [11] S. Okabe, H. Goshima, A. Tanimura, S. Tsuru, Y. Yaegashi, E. Fujie, and H. Okubo, Fundamental insulation characteristics of high-pressure CO2gas under actual equipment conditions, IEEE Trans. Dielecr. Electr. Insul., vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 8390, 2007. [12] T. Uchii, H. Yoshikazu, M. Kensaku, M. Tadashi, K. Hiromichi, N. Tet-suya, and H. Yoshihiko, Development of 72 kV class environmentally-benign CO2 gas circuit breaker model, IEEJ Trans. Power Energy, vol. 124, no. 3, pp. 476484, 2004.

[13] T. Tanaka, et al., Polymer nanocompositesFundamentals and possible applications to power sectors, CIGRE, SC D1 WG 24 Technical Brochure, To be published, 2010. [14] M. Kurimoto, H. Okubo, K. Kato, M. Hanai, Y. Hoshina, M. Takei, and N. Hayakawa, Dielectric properties of epoxy/alumina nanocomposite influenced by control of micrometric agglomerates, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 662670, 2010 [15] C. Perrier and A. Beroual, Experimental investigations on insulating liq-uids for power transformers: Mineral, ester and silicone oil, IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 6 13, 2009. [16] H. Koide, et al., Commercialization of palm fatty acid ester oil immersed transformer, Japan AE Power Rev., vol. 3, p. 10, Aug. 2010. [17] H. Okubo and K. Kato, Charge behaviour and field measurement techniques in different kinds of insulating oil for power transformers, in IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids, 2008, pp. 16. [18] A. B. H. Okubo, "Recent Trend and Future Perspectives in Electrical Insulation Techniques in Relation to Sulfur Hexafluoride Substitutes for High Voltage Electric Equipment," IEEE, 2011. [19] "SF6 and a world first," ABB review, Sydney, 2012.

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