Beeswax

Beeswax is a product from a bee hive. Beeswax is secreted by honeybees of a certain age in the form of thin scales. The scales are produced by glands of 12 to 17 days old worker bees on the ventral (stomach) surface of the abdomen. Worker bees have eight wax-producing glands on the inner sides of the sternites (the ventral shield or plate of each segment of the body). Wax is produced from abdominal segments 4 to 7. The size of these wax glands depends on the age of the worker.

Honeybees use the beeswax to build honey comb cells in which the young are raised and honey and pollen are stored. For the wax-making bees to secrete wax the ambient temperature in the hive has to be 33 to 36 °C (91 to 97 °F). Approximately eight pounds of honey is consumed by bees to produce one pound of beeswax (8 kg/kg). Estimates are that bees fly 150,000 miles to yield this one pound of beeswax (530,000 km/kg). When beekeepers go to extract the honey, they cut off the wax caps from each honeycomb cell. Its color varies from yellowish-white to brownish depending on purity and the type of flowers gathered by the bees. Wax from the brood comb of the honeybee hive tends to be darker than wax from the honey comb. Impurities accumulate more quickly in the brood comb. Due to the impurities, the wax has to be rendered before further use. The leftovers are called slumgum.

The wax may further be clarified by heating in water and may then be used for candles or as a lubricant for drawers and windows or as a wood polish. As with petroleum waxes it may be softened by dilution with vegetable oil to make it more workable at room temperature, whence it may be used to create sculpture and jewelry models for use in the lost wax casting process.

Physical characteristics

It is a tough wax formed from a mixture of several compounds including: hydrocarbons 14%, monoesters 35%, diesters 14%, triesters 3%, hydroxy monoesters 4%, hydroxy polyesters 8%, acid esters 1%, acid polyesters 2%, free acids 12%, free alcohols 1%, unidentified 6%

The main components of beeswax are palmitate, palmitoleate, hydroxypalmitate and oleate esters of long-chain (30-32 carbons) aliphatic alcohols, with the ratio of triacontanylpalmitate CH₃(CH₂)₂₉O-CO-(CH₂)₁₄CH₃ to cerotic acid CH₃(CH₂)₂₄COOH, the two principal components, being 6:1.

Beeswax has a high melting point range, of 62 to 64 °C (144 to 147 °F). It does not boil in air, but continues to heat until it bursts into flame at around 120 °C (250 °F). If beeswax is heated above 85 °C (185 °F) discoloration occurs. Density at 15 °C is 0.958 to 0.970 g/cm³.

Bee wax can be classified generally into European and Oriental types. The ratio of saponification value is lower (3-5) for European beeswax, and higher (8-9) for Oriental types.

Hydroxyoctacosanyl hydroxystearate can be used as a beeswax substitute as a consistency regulator and emulsion stabilizer. Japan wax is another substitute.

Uses as a product

Beeswax is used commercially to make fine candles, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (the latter two account for 60% of total consumption), in polishing materials (particularly shoe polish), as a component of modelling waxes, and in a variety of other products. It is commonly used during the assembly of pool tables to fill the screw holes and the seams between the slates. Beeswax candles are preferred in most Eastern Orthodox churches because they burn cleanly, with little or no wax dripping down the sides and little visible smoke. Beeswax is also prescribed as the material (or at least a significant part of the material) for the Paschal candle ("Easter Candle") and is recommended for other candles used in the liturgy of the Catholic Church.

It is also used as a coating for cheese, to protect the food as it ages. While some cheesemakers have replaced it with plastic, many still use beeswax in order to avoid any unpleasant flavours that may result from plastic.

The burning characteristics beeswax candles differ from those of paraffin. Beeswax has negative ionization, which binds particulate matter to clear the air. A beeswax candle flame has a "warmer," more yellow color than that of paraffin, and the color of the flame may vary depending on the season in which the wax was harvested.

Historical use

Beeswax is used since ancient history; traces of it were found in the paintings in the Lascaux cave and in Egyptian mummies. Ancient Egyptians used it in shipbuilding as well. In the Roman period, beeswax was used as waterproofing agent for painted walls and as medium for the Fayum mummy portraits. In the Middle Ages beeswax was considered valuable enough to become a form of currency. More recently it found use as a modeling material, a component of sealing wax, and in cosmetics.

See also

• Ester
• Encaustic painting
• Paraffin
• Carnauba wax

References

• santafecandle.com: Beeswax accessed Nov 2005
• The chemistry of bees Joel Loveridge, School of Chemistry University of Bristol accessed Nov 2005
• Greatvista Chemicals: Bee wax