Sugarcane wax
Description
Crude cane wax is extracted from cachaza, a by-product in the manufacture of raw sugar. Cachaza is the filter-press mud separated by sedimentation and filtration from the cane juice particles and the precipitate formed by the action of heat and chemical treatment on the colloid, and is removed in the clarification of the cane juice. The precipitate contains the cane wax that was originally on the surface of the cane stalk before it was crushed. The cachaza is removed from the cane juice, after chemical treatment and heating, by sedimentation and filtration.
When the filter cake is removed from the filters, it is mixed with a solvent which dissolves the cane wax as well as other soluble substances. The solvent is then evaporated, recovered and reused. The mass residue is waxy and contains about 50% sugar-cane wax, 30% sugar-cane fatty oil and 20% resinous matter.
In a refining process, the crude sugar-cane wax is dispersed in a solvent which readily dissolves the fatty-oil fraction and leaves the hard wax and resinous matter as a suspended solid. This slurry is filtered to remove the soluble fatty-oil fraction which is recovered as a green semifluid paste.
The sugar-cane wax and the resinous matter from which the sugar-cane fatty oil has been removed are now reslurried with additional solvent and heated until the cane wax melts. At this temperature, the resinous matter separates from the wax and is removed by decantation. The light layer containing the sugar-cane wax is then evaporated to remove all the solvent, leaving the refined cane wax which is cast into pans[1].
Properties
| Melting Point | 79 - 81ºC |
| Penetration (100g/5sec/25ºC) | 2 (max) |
| Color | Brown |
| Acid Number | 23 - 28 |
| Saponification Number | 65 -77 |
| Acetyl Value | 25 |
| Iodine Number | 17 |
| Peroxice Number | 0 |
| Ash | 0.004 % |
| Specific Gravity | 0.9830 |
| Refractive Index | (n23) 1.5199, (n90) 1.4435 |
Solubility
Sugarcane wax is partially soluble in cold alcohol, 5.9 g dissolve in 100 ml U.S.P. ethanol (95%) at 25ºC; and it is partially soluble to a much greater extent in hot ethanol. Ten parts of cane wax dissolve in 100 ml of butanol at 57ºC, in 100 ml of benzene at 67ºC, in 100 ml of ethyl acetate at 44ºC, in 100 ml of turpentine at 35ºC and 100 ml of light naphtha at 39ºC. Cane wax is partially soluble in ethylene dichloride; 1.6 g dissolve in 100 ml at 37ºC. It is quite soluble in chlorofom, but very sparingly soluble in cold ether. Hot ethyl ether dissolves it to some extent, depositing small crystal grains on cooling. The wax is soluble in hot amyl alcohol. The highly refined wax is reported as melting at 82ºC and solidifying at 80ºC and has a specific gravity (d10) of 0.961. When made into a taper it burns with a fine white flame like spermaceti[3].