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Fatty Oils & Waxes
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The terminology used
here to describe the various kinds of oils and waxes
reflects their physical rather than chemical characteristics
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Fatty oils are fixed oils because
they do not evaporate or become volatile.
They cannot be distilled without being decomposed. Chemically fatty oils are close to animal
fats. They contain glycerin in
combination with a fatty acid. They
are liquid at room temperature and usually contain oleic acid. However, fats are solid at room
temperature and contain palmitic or stearic acid. Fatty oils are insoluble in water but soluble in several
organic solvents. Breakdown products
of fats are fatty acids and glycerin accompanied by a rancid odor and
taste. Boiling a fat with an alkali
causes it to decompose and the fatty acid unites with the alkali to form soap. The addition of lye or potash will make
the soap softer, if soda is used a hard soap results. Fatty oils occur in many plant
families, both tropical and temperate.
They are stored, frequently in large amounts, in seeds and somewhat in
fruits, tubers, stems and other plant organs. They may also contain proteins. This kind of reserve food material is available as a source of
energy for the processes involved in seed germination. Fatty oils are bland and lack the strong
taste, odor and antiseptic qualities of essential oils. Thus they are suitable for human
food. These edible oils contain both
solid and liquid fats and form an important part of the human diet. Extraction of fatty oils
varies. Usually the seed coats have to
be removed and then the remainder is reduced to a fine meal. The oils are removed by solvents or by
subjecting the meal to hydraulic pressure.
The residue is rich in proteins and is valuable as an animal food and
fertilizer. Pressure causes the cell
walls to break and the fats are released.
The extracted oils are filtered and may be further purified. Higher grades are edible and lower grades
are used in various industries. Fatty
oils may also have medicinal value. Four classes
of plant fatty oils are (1) drying oils, (2) semidrying oils, (3) nondrying
oils, and (4) fats or tallows. The
drying oils can absorb oxygen and on exposure dry into thin elastic
films. These oils are importance in
the paint and varnish industries.
Semidrying oils absorb oxygen slowly and only in small amounts. They form a soft film only after long
exposure to air. Some are edible;
others are used as illuminants or in making soap and candles. The nondrying oils remain liquid at room
temperature and do not form a film.
Such oils are edible and may be used for soap and lubricants. The fats are solid or semisolid at room
temperature. They are edible and also
useful in the manufacture of soap and candles. Drying and semidrying oils are more common in plants of temperate
climates, while nondrying oils and fats predominate in plants of tropical
areas. Flax
seed, Linum usitatissimum, has been the source of one of the most important of the
drying oils. The oil content is 32-43
percent. The seeds are collected and
stored for several months. Then
impurities are removed and the seeds are ground to a fine meal. The oil is usually extracted by pressure
with heat or by the use of solvents.
Cold-pressed oil is produced in Eastern Europe where it is used for
human consumption. Linseed oil varies
from yellow to brownish in color and has an acrid taste and smell. It forms a tough elastic film when
oxidized. Heating the raw oil to 125
deg. Centigrade increases this drying property. This produces the “boiled” linseed oil. Linseed oil has been used mainly in making
paints, varnishes, linoleum, soft soap and printer’s ink. Following extraction, the oil cake can be
used as an animal feed. Argentina has been the main
producer, where over six million acres were devoted to seed-flax cultivation
by the mid 1900’s. Russia, India,
China, Uruguay and Canada and the United States also produced considerably
quantities. Montana, the Dakotas and
Minnesota were the centers of seed-flax production in the United States, with
an annual yield of 40 million bu. by 1950.
Tung
oil, or Chinawood oil,
has been widely used in the varnish industry and as a substitute for linseed
oil. It is obtained from the seeds of
two Chinese species of Aleurites, A. fordii, the tung-oil tree, a species native to
central and western China, and A. montana, the mu tree, found in southwestern China. Oils from these trees are almost identical
in composition and properties and imported tung oil is often a mixture of the
two. In China tung oil has been used
for centuries in waterproofing wood, paper and fabrics. It is a good preservative and is resistant
to weathering, so it is especially valuable for painting outdoors. Boatmen have sought after tung oil because
it is little affected by water. In the United States cultivation
of A. fordii began in 1905 and grew to 75,000 acres in the Gulf States
by the mid 1950’s. Tung trees are
handsome and are often planted as ornamentals. The tung oil industry had assumed great importance in southern
agriculture by the mid 1950’s. Not
only was it a profitable source of income, but also the orchards could be
planted on otherwise useless eroded land. The outer husk of the fruit is
removed and the oil is expressed from the seeds by expeller presses. Tung oil is pale yellow to dark brown and
dries very rapidly and also has preservative and waterproofing qualities. Consequently, its chief use has been in
the varnish and paint industries, where it largely replaced kauri and other
hard resins. Large quantities were
also used in producing linoleum, oilcloth, brake linings, soap, leather
dressings, inks, insulating compounds and fiberboard. The oil cake is a good fertilizer but is
unsuitable as an animal feed. Soybean,
Glycine max,
is native to China and has been a most important food plant in Eastern
Asia. The oil is midway between
linseed and cottonseed in its characteristics, so that sometimes it is
classified as a drying oil or semidrying oil. The oil is extracted from the seeds by expression with
hydraulic or expeller presses or by the use of solvents. The oil content of improved varieties now
exceeds 22 percent. After refining,
soybean oil has been widely used in salads or as cooking oil and for other
food purposes.
However, research in 2019 has
associated autism with the consumption of soybean oil. There ore many food products made from it,
such as margarine, tofu, ice cream substitutes, vegetarian meat substitutes,
etc. It is also used in the manufacture
of soap, candles, varnishes, lacquers, paints, linoleum, greases, rubber
substitutes, cleaning compounds disinfectants and insecticides. The oil cake or meal has a 40-48 percent
protein content and is valuable as a meat substitute and feed for livestock. It is also used for adhesives, plastics,
foaming solutions, spreaders, fertilizers, sizings, synthetic textiles, etc. <bot704>
Soybean seed (Glycine max Fab.) [China] Seeds
of large evergreen tree of northeast Brazil, Licania rigida, provide this
oil. It has been used as a substitute
for tung oil. It is extracted by
solvents or by hydraulic presses.
This oil finds use in the paint and varnish industries; in making
linoleum, printing inks and brake bands; and for improving the elasticity of
rubber. It has been used in Brazil as
an illuminant and medicine. The seeds of Perilla frutescens, an aromatic annual,
3-5 ft. in height with numerous branches, provides this oil. Native to northern India, China and Japan,
it is extensively cultivated in the Orient, especially in Manchuria and
Japan. The plant matures slowly and
must be harvested before it is completely ripe or the seeds will fall from
their capsules. The oil is expressed
from roasted and crushed seeds and is edible, having been used for
centuries. Industrial uses of perilla
oil are much more important. It is
deployed in the manufacture of Japanese oilpapers, cheap lacquer, paper
umbrellas, waterproof clothes, printer’s ink and leather. A considerable amount of this oil was
imported into North America during the mid 1950’s as a substitute for linseed
oil. The
oil is from the hard-shelled seeds of Aleurites moluccana, native to Malaya and
Pacific Islands. In the Philippines
it is called lumbang oil. It is a
good drying oil and has been used in making paints, varnishes, lacquer,
linoleum and soft soap and as a preservative for the hulls of ships. The nuts were at one time used in Hawaii
and other Polynesian islands for illumination, thus the name candlenut. The oil cake is poisonous and may be used
only as a fertilizer. The mature and old kernels of English
walnut, Juglans regia, and yield a drying oil used for white paint, artist paints,
printing ink and soap. Hot-pressed
oil is adapted for these purposes.
The fresh oil and cold-pressed oil have a pleasant odor and nutty
flavor and are edible. Waste kernels
from the shelling process may be used as a source of the oil. This oil is pale yellow and comes
from the seeds of Guizotia abyssinica, an annual plant in
tropical Africa. It is cultivated in
India, Africa, Germany and the West Indies.
Higher grades have a pleasant aromatic odor and are used for food,
while poorer grades are made into soak or serve as illuminants. There has never been a widespread use of
this oil in the Western Hemisphere. Seeds of the poppy, Papaver somniferum, provides an important
drying oil. This drug plant is grown
for its edible seeds in northern France and Germany and in India. The first pressing yields white edible
oil, while a second hot pressing furnishes reddish oil used for lamps, soap
and, after bleaching, for oil paints. Safflower,
Carthamus tinctorius, is the source as a dye as well as oil from its seeds. It is extensively cultivated in Egypt,
India and the Orient and somewhat in North America. It is widely used in Mexico. Uses include manufacture of paints, soap, varnishes, illuminant
and edible oil. <bot692>
Safflower
(Carthamus tinctorius) [Mediterranean] This is really not true oil but a byproduct of the
sulfate pulp industry. The waste
liquor from pine pulp mills is concentrated by evaporation, and the soap
curds are removed and acidified.
Crude tall oil, which results, contains fatty acids, resins and other
substances. It is refined by steam distillation. It is used in the manufacture of soap and,
after treatment with glycerin, as a drying oil. Drying oils may be obtained from
many other plant species, some of which have commercial importance. Among them is hemp, Cannabis
sativa,
grown in China, Japan and Europe and the oil is extracted from seeds. It is used for soap, paints, varnishes and
lamp oil. The seeds of tobacco, Nicotiana
tabacum,
Hevea
brasiliensis, Manihot glazovii
and
other sources of rubber furnish oil as well as grapes and raisins. Grape-seed oil in particular has become
popular in California as a food product. The most important of the semidrying
oils, cottonseed oil is used as the standard of comparison. The United States has been the main
producer, but almost all the cotton-growing nations provide varying
amounts. Over one billion pounds of
the oil were expressed annually in the United States by the mid 1950’s. The industry was first established around 1880,
prior to which cottonseeds were merely discarded. The seeds are carefully cleaned and freed from impurities and
the linters and usually the hulls are removed. The kernels are then crushed and heated and are finally
subjected to hydraulic pressure or expeller presses. The oil is pumped into tanks where
impurities settle out. The pure
refined oil is of value as a salad and cooking oil and for making margarine
and lard substitutes. The residue is
the source of various products that have a wide range of industrial
uses. Among these are soap, oilcloth,
washing powders, artificial leather, roofing tar, insulating materials,
putty, glycerin and nitroglycerin.
Cottonseed meal is important as a food for animals and as a
fertilizer. There is about 50 percent oil
located in the embryo of maize kernels.
It is used for a wide variety of purposes. Refined oil is for human consumption either directly or in margarines,
while the crude oil has industrial uses such as the manufacture of rubber
substitutes, paints, soaps. Corn oil
has little lubricating value. Also known as gingelly oil, sesame
oil is the product of seeds of an annual herb, Sesamum
indicum. It has been a chief oil of India and was
cultivated there and in China from ancient times. Its use has spread to other tropical regions and it is now
grown in many Asiatic, African and tropical American countries. China produces about one-half of the world
supply, India one-third and Africa and America the rest. Slaves brought sesame oil to North
America, and in the southern United States the plant was grown in slave days. The seeds contain about 50 percent
oil that is easily extracted by cold pressure. The finer grades are tasteless and nearly colorless and are
used as a substitute for olive oil in cooking and in medicine. Enormous
quantities of sesame oil are used in Europe in the manufacture of margarine
and other foods. Poorer grades of oil
are used for soap, perfumery and rubber substitutes and sometimes as a
lubricant. In India the oil is used
for anointing the body, as fuel for lamps and as food. Oil cake is a good cattle feed, and sesame
seeds are also used in confectionery and baking industries. Common
sunflower seeds, Helianthus annuus, contain 32-45 percent
of light golden-yellow oil equal to olive oil in its medicinal and food
value. It is an excellent salad oil
and is used in margarines and lard substitutes. The seeds are a nutritious bird and poultry food, while the oil
cake is excellent for livestock and the whole plant is often grown for
silage. The oil has semidrying
properties rendering it useful in the varnish, paint and soap industries. Its origins probably lie in South America
but it is cultivated worldwide.
Rumania, Russia and Argentina are big producers of sunflower seeds,
while increasing acreage is planted in North America. Seeds
of several species of Brassica, mainly B. campestris, B.
napus (rape) and B. rapa, yield oils with characteristics that classify them as rape
or colza oils. The oil content is
30-45 percent and expression or solvents extract the oil. Rapeseeds have been widely cultivated in
Europe, China, Japan and India. The
crude oil is edible when cold pressed and is used for greasing loaves of
bread before baking. It is used in
lamps, in oiling wooden goods, in the manufacture of soap and rubber
substitutes and for quenching or tempering steel plates. The refined oil, or colza oil, is edible
and it can be used as a lubricant for delicate machinery. Other
sources are camelina oil from
Camelina sativa, which is grown in Europe for its seed and used for soap and
as an illuminant; croton oil, a powerful drug that is treated under
“Medicinal Plants;” and argemone oil from Argemone
mexicana. The seeds of many varieties of cultivated
plants, such as pears, apricots, apples, peaches, cherries, plums, citrus,
cereals, tomatoes, canteloupes, watermelons, pumpkins and black and white
mustard also contain semidrying oils. <bot787> Red Coondoo (Mimusops elengi L.) (fruit;
dysentery treatment; perfumes; paint oil) [India] The
fruits of the olive, Olea europaea, provide olive oil,
and it is the most important of the nondrying oils. The tree is a small evergreen cultivated principally in
Mediterranean countries and to a lesser degree in South Africa, Australia,
South America, Mexico and the United States.
The world production of olive oil has exceeded two billion pounds
since the mid 1950’s, with Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal the
leaders. Oils from the latter
countries are believed superior in flavor to those from other areas. The oil is squeezed from the pulp
either by hand or mechanically. The
finest grades are obtained by the former method. These oils are golden yellow, clear and limpid. They are used chiefly as salad and cooking
oils, in canning sardines and in medicine.
Inferior grades have a greenish tinge and are used for soap making and
as lubricants. The poorest grades are
obtained by the use of solvents after several pressings. Fully ripe olives give the largest
yield. Olive oil is one of the most
important food oils as it will store for long periods and becomes rancid only
when exposed to the air. The oil cake
is used for stock feed and as a substitute for humus in coil conditioning. <bot423> Wild Olive (Olea europaea)
& Cypress trees (Cupressus sempervirens), central Greece <bot477>
Wild olive trees (Olea sp.), central Kenya Seeds
of the common peanut, Arachis hypogaea, originally from South
America, provide peanut oil. The
plant was widely used by Amerindians in Peru and so highly regarded that gold
replicas are found in the tombs. The main producers are China,
India, Africa, and the United States.
The seeds are shelled, cleaned and crushed, and both hydraulic presses
and expellers express the oil. The
filtered and refined oil is edible and used as a salad oil, for cooking, for
packing sardines, in making margarine and shortenings, and as an adulterant
for olive oil. Inferior grades are
for soap making, lubricants, and illuminants. The oil cake is an excellent livestock feed as it has higher
protein content than any other similar product. Peanut oil is in great demand in Europe where it is extracted
with solvents as well as by expression.
Spanish peanuts are grown in the United States for oil production
because they have higher oil content. Seeds
of Ricinus communis furnish versatile
oil. The plant is a coarse erect
annual herb that is cultivated in both temperate and tropical regions. In North America it is a favored
ornamental plant but has been grown for its oil. The characteristically marked seeds contain 35-55 percent of
thick colorless or greenish oil that is obtained by expression or solvent
extraction. Caution is required in
handling the plant which has poisonous qualities. The chief use of castor oil used
to be in medicine, where it acts as a purgative. Presently most of the production is utilized in industry in the
manufacture of over 25 different products.
It is water resistant and thus may be used for coating fabrics and for
protective coverings for airplanes, insulation, food containers, firearms,
etc. It is an excellent lubricant
especially for airplane engines. When
hydrated it is converted into a quick-drying oil used in paints and
varnishes. Caster oil may also be
used in making soap, inks and plastics, for preserving leather and as an
illuminant. The leaves have
insecticidal properties, while the stalks are a source of paper pulp and
cellulose. The oil cake or pomace is
poisonous but makes and excellent fertilizer. Of minor importance are kapok oil
from the seeds of the kapok tree and used as a substitute for cottonseed oil;
tea-seed oil from Camelia
sasanqua,
a valuable oil in China, Japan and Assam; and oil of ben from Moringa oleifera. Nondrying oils are also obtained from
almonds, pecans, filberts, pistachio, and pili nuts and from the flesh of
avocados. Widely used fatty oil, coconut oil
is obtained from the dried white interior of the seed of Cocos
nucifera. This oil is pail yellow or colorless and
is solid below 74 deg. Fahrenheit.
Following harvest, the nut husks are removed and the interior split
open and dried either by natural or fire heat. The dried tissue, or copra, is then easily removed. This is ground up and the oil
expressed. The cake is sometimes
placed in a hydraulic press a second time, and still more oil is
removed. The yield is 65-70
percent. Fresh coconut meat can be
pressed also giving a yield of 80 percent or more oil. Refined coconut oil is edible and is now
extensively used as a food product, such as a substitute for milk. It is especially well adapted for the
purpose of margarines because it is solid at room temperature. It is used in candy industry and for
making the highest quality soaps, cosmetics, salves shaving creams, shampoos,
suntan lotions, etc. It is used for
marine soaps and also as an illuminant.
The cake is an excellent livestock feed. Copra is produced in Ceylon, India, Polynesia, the Philippines
and the West Indies. Most of the oil
is expressed in Europe, the United States and Japan, though Ceylon and India
export large amounts also. In the
latter part of the 20th Century there has been a trend away from consuming
coconut fat because of possible harmful effects from saturated fats. However, a resumption of usage has
occurred in the 21st Century following more scientific research on saturated
fats. <bot693> Coconut opened husks (Cocos nucifera)
[Malaya] This is a white vegetable fat that
is solid at room temperature and which is obtained from the seeds of the African
oil palm, Elaeis guineensi, a tree of Western Africa. It has been transported worldwide and is
cultivated in Haiti, Brazil and Honduras, where it is called dende. Oil palms are very productive, beginning
to bear at the age of 5-6 years and reaching full bearing at 15. They continue to bear until 60-70 years of
age. Each tree has 10 bunches of 200
nuts a year. The fibrous pulp of
these fruit contains 30-70 percent fat.
The oil was obtained mainly by crude methods for years until newer methods
were developed. It is yellow-orange
or brownish red in color. Most of the
supply has been from Sumatra, Java and Western Africa. Palm oil is used in making soap and in the
manufacture of tin plate, terne plate and cold reduced sheet steel. The refined oil is used in margarine and
vegetable shortenings. It has also
bee used as a fuel for diesel motors in Africa. Health conscious people have refrained in consuming this fat
because, like coconut, there may be harmful effects from saturated fats. <bot694>
African Oil Palm fruit (Elaeis guineensis)
[Africa] This white and valuable oil is
obtained from the kernel of the African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis. It was extensively used in the margarine
and candy industries because of its pleasant odor and nutty flavor. It has also been used for making blycerin,
soap, shampoos and candles. Natives
in West Africa express some oil for their own use, but most of the kernels
are shipped overseas. Palm-kernel
cake is a good cattle feed. During World War II when supplies
of copra and palm oil were reduced, attention was directed to the rich
sources in Brazil. This included over
500 species of palms, many of which are potential sources of oil. Although not native to Brazil, both
coconut and the African oil palm occur there in great abundance. Additionally, several native species of
palm have economic importance. These
include the babasu, cohune, lieuri, tucum and murumuru palms, all of which
provide kernel oils. The most important of the New
World palm oils is obtained from the babassu palms, Orbignya
martiana and O. oleifera. These are magnificent trees 60 ft. in height
with a vase-shaped crown of leaves.
Two to eight enormous clusters of fruit are produced, each weighing
about 200 lbs. and containing from 200-600 fruits. The outer portion of the fruit is a dense, tough fibrous
husk. This surrounds a thin mealy
mesocarp and the nut, which has a thick very hard shell. This industry was retarded when only hand
labor was available to crack the nuts, but machines were developed that can
exert 10,000-25,000 lb. pressure. The
nuts contain from 2-6 kernels with a 63-70 percent oil content. Babassu oil is expressed from these
kernels and when refined is used as a substitute for coconut oil. It is also used in making bulletproof
glass, lubricants, and explosives and as a fuel for Diesel engines. Nuts of the cohune palm, Orbignya cohune, native to Central and
South America, contain 40 percent of a firm yellow fat. At one time there were over two million
acres of this palm managed in British Honduras that yielded from 1,000-2,000
nutts per tree. Like the babassu, the
nut is very hard to crack, but machinery has been developed. The
licuri or ouricuri palm, Syagrus coronata, occurs in dry areas
of eastern Brazil. It is important
commercially as the source of a palm-kernel oil and also of a wax that occurs
on the leaves. The fruits resemble
miniature coconuts. The
murumuru palm, Astrocaryum murumuru, is the main source of
palm-kernel oil in the sate of Para, Brazil.
The tucum palms, Astrocaryum tucuma and A. vulgare, or
northern South America yield both a palm kernel and a pulp oil and also a fiber of
commercial value. Vegetable
Fats of Minor Importance This is the white
or yellowish fat with a chocolate odor and flavor that is expressed from the
beans of the cacao or cocoa, Theobroma
cacao,
during the process of making cocoa.
It is firm at room temperature.
It is used mainly for making chocolate but also for cosmetics and in
perfumery and medicine. This is a thick white or yellow
oil obtained from the seeds of several species of the genus Carapa and is used for soap
and as an illuminant. Natives in
South America have used the oil from C. guianensis
to
grease their bodies and drive off insects.
Carapa moluccensis
is a
native of East Africa, India, Sri Lanka and the Moluccas Seeds
of Butyrospermum parkii from Africa provide
shea butter. It is a greenish-yellow
fat with a pleasant odor and taste. The
fat is also used mixed with, or as a substitute for, cocoa butter in
chocolate manufacture. Inferior
grades are used for soap and candles.
A large amount was exported to Europe in the 20th Century. Two
species of the genus Madhuca, M. indica and M. longifolia, are the source of
various products in India. They are
best known as mowra fat, bassia fat, mahua butter of illipe butter. The trees are both wild and cultivated. The kernels contain 55-65 percent of soft
yellow oil that is widely used locally for cooking and tallow. Over 66 million pounds were exported to
Europe for use as a margarine and chocolate fat and in soap manufacturing
during the 1950’s. The cake is not fit
for food but is used as a fertilizer.
Madhuca butyracea is the source of a similar product, phulwara
butter, also used locally. This is a hard yellowish-green and
brittle solid fat sometimes known as green butter. It is obtained from Shorea aptera
and
some other species of the same or allied genera native to the East
Indies. The kernels contain 50-70
percent fat. They are dried and
expressed by the local people for their own use or are exported to Europe for
soap making and as a substitute for cocoa butter. This occurs as a thick layer of
hard white fat on the seeds of
Sapium sebiferum a tree from China. It has been introduced worldwide including
the southern United States. After
treatment the tallow is used in soap and candle making. The seeds contain a drying oil that has
some value. Seeds
of nutmeg, Myristica fragrans, and related species contain about 40
percent of a yellow fat with the flavor and consistency of tallow. Nutmegs hate are not suitable for use in
the spice trade are roasted and powdered and the oil extracted between warm
plates. Several varieties of nutmeg
butter have appeared in the market, all used for ointments or for
candles. Mace yields a similar
material. There are many other vegetable
fats used locally. Among these pongam
oil from the seeds of Pongamia pinnata is used for
illumination and medicine in India and Sri Lanka; macassar oil from the seeds
of Schleichera oleosa, a soft
yellowish-white fat in India, Sri Lanka and the East Indies for coking
purposes, as a hair oil and for illumination; and ucuhuba and otoba butter
obtained from species of Virola in northern South
America. Members of the Flacourtiaceae in
Asia, Afric and South America have oily seeds that contain chaulmoogric and
usually hydnocarpic acid. The natives
in treating skin diseases have used these oils. The most important one, chaulmoogra oil, are discussed under Medicinal Plants Waxes usually occur on the
epidermis of leaves and fruits where they serve to prevent water loss through
transpiration. The impervious waxes
are harder than fats and have a higher melting point. They do not become rancid and are less
easily hydrolyzed. Chemically waxes
are similar to fats, but they are esters of monohydric alcohols rather than
glycerides. Very few are of
commercial importance. Carnauba is
the most important vegetable wax. It
occurs as exudations on the leaves of the wax palm, Copernica cerifera, native to Brazil and other areas in tropical South
America. The slender fan palm is
called “Tree of Life” locally because almost all parts of the pant are
useful. The commercial supply of
carnauba wax is obtained from wild trees in northeastern Brazil. Young leaves are carefully gathered before
they are fully open. They are dried
in the sun for several days until the wax has turned to a flourlike
dust. This is then removed by
threshing. It is then melted down in
clay vessels, followed by straining, cooling and forming into cakes or broken
into small pieces for shipment. There
are several grades. The crude product
is greenish-gray and very hard with a high melting point. Carnauba wax
is used in the manufacture of candles, soap, high-luster varnishes, paints,
carbon paper, batteries, sound films, insulation, salves, ointments and
previously phonograph records. The
trunk of Ceroxylon andicola of the Andean Region
produces a similar wax, which has been used as a substitute. Candelilla
is from Euphorbia antisyphilitica, a low, light blue-green desert shrub of
Texas, Mexico and Northern Central America.
The tiny leaves are quickly deciduous. The wax exudes from pores and forms a thin film on the
stems. The amount produced increases
during winter, so that the plants are collected in that season. The principal source is from wild plants. The wax is extracted by solvents or by
boiling. The crude material is white,
but the refined product is a light tan color and has a sweetish odor. Candelilla wax is softer, contains more
resin and has a lower melting point than carnauba, and is therefore less
valuable. It has been used as an
extender wax in a mixture with others.
Chemical treatment improves its quality, however. Berries
of the bayberry, Myrica pensylvanica, and the wax myrtle,
M. cerifera, are both native to the eastern United States, and they are
covered with a thick layer of wax.
The material is in reality a fat rather than a wax. It is removed from the fruits by boiling
in water and is used for candle and soap manufacture. The
leaves of the Cauassu, Calathea lutea, a tall herb of the
lower Amazon region, are potentially an important source of a commercial
wax. The wax occurs on the underside
of the large leaves. Drying in the sun
for only 2-3 hours is enough for the very thin scales to form, which are then
removed by scraping. New wax-yielding
leaves are produced within a year, while it takes 8-10 years for carnauba
leaves to be renewed. Cauassu wax is
similar to carnauba and can be used for the same purposes. Jojoba
is an evergreen bush, Simmondsia chinensis, of semiarid regions
on the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. it is unique in having seeds with a 50
percent liquid wax content. This wax
is suitable for polishes, candles and as a substitute for whale oil. It is also useful as an illuminant and,
after processing, for several types of foods. The oil cake is an excellent livestock feed and the acornlike
fruits are edible. Cultivation of
jojoba increased dramatically in the United States during the latter part of
the 20th Century, but has declined thereafter. <bot695> Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) [North
America] Berries of the wax tree of Japan, Rhus
succedanea,
and the leaves of raphia and licuri palms, sugar cane and esparto may also
furnish commercial wax. <bot766>
Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) (fruit;
oil for candles) [Malaysia] Many plants
contain natural products that can serve as substitutes for soap. These are the saponins, a group of
water-soluble glucosides. Such plants
yield soap froth in water that forms emulsions with fats and oils and are
capable of absorbing large amounts of gases such as carbon dioxide. Besides the few that are commercial
important, there are many wild species that have been used locally. The most important saponin-containing
plants are the following:
Quillaja saponaria,
the soapbark tree,
grows on the western slopes of the Andes from Peru to Chile. The commercial material is derived from
dried inner bark, which is removed after the outer bark has been shaved
off. The saponin content of the bark
is about 9 percent. Soapbark forms a
copious lather in water and is used in washing delicate fabrics. It was one of the best emergency materials
for cleaning lenses and precision instruments during World War II. In medicine it has been used as an expectorant
and emulsifying agent. However, it is
a dangerous drug to take internally.
Being very toxic it tends to dissolve the blood corpuscles. Therefore, its use to increase the foaming
power of beer and other beverages is discouraged. Soapbark is also a good coetaneous stimulant and is often used
in hair tonics. Saponaria
officinalis is a plant native to Eurasia but has become
naturalized in North America. It contains a considerable amount of
saponin. When placed in water the leaves
produce a lather, which is utilized for washing silks and woolens. It not only cleanses but imparts a luster
as well. These are fruits of a tropical
American tree, Sapindus saponaria, that occur as several subspecies from
South Texas south. They are used as soap substitutes and in the preparation
of hair tonics. Bulbs of the California soaproot, Chlorogalum
pomeridianum,
yield a good lather and have been used locally to wash fabrics. |