Beeswax

For the 2009 lm, see Beeswax (lm).

Beeswax is a natural wax produced by individual

A beekeeper from Vojka, Serbia making a bee hive frame.

Uncapping beeswax honeycombs

Commercial honeycomb foundation, made by pressing beeswax

between patterned metal rollers

Fresh wax scales (in the middle of the lower row)

honey bees of the genus Apis. The wax is formed into

scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal
segments 4 through 7 of worker bees, who discard it in
or at the hive. The hive workers collect and use it for
comb structural stability, to form cells for honey-storage
and larval and pupal comfort and protection within the
bee hive. Chemically, beeswax consists of mainly esters
of fatty acids and various long-chain alcohols.
Small amounts of beeswax have human food and avoring
applications, and are edible in the sense of having similar
toxicity to undigestable plant waxes. However, the wax
monoesters in beeswax are poorly hydrolysed in the guts
of humans and other mammals, so are not considered as
having a signicant nutritional value.[1] Some birds, such
as honeyguides, can digest beeswax.

Beeswax cake

USES

Production

more quickly in the brood comb. Due to the impurities,

the wax must be rendered before further use. The leftThe wax is formed by worker bees, which secrete it from overs are called slumgum.
eight wax-producing mirror glands on the inner sides of The wax may be claried further by heating in water. As
the sternites (the ventral shield or plate of each segment with petroleum waxes, it may be softened by dilution with
of the body) on abdominal segments 4 to 7. The sizes of mineral oil or vegetable oil to make it more workable at
these wax glands depend on the age of the worker, and room temperature.
after many daily ights, these glands begin to gradually
atrophy.
The new wax is initially glass-clear and colourless, be- 3 Physical characteristics
coming opaque after mastication and adulteration with
pollen by the hive worker bees. Also, the wax becomes
progressively more yellow or brown by incorporation of
pollen oils and propolis. The wax scales are about 3 mm
(0.12 in) across and 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) thick, and about
1,100 are required to make a gram of wax.[2]
Triacontanyl palmitate, a wax ester, is a major component of
Honey bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells in beeswax.
which their young are raised with honey and pollen cells
Beeswax is a tough wax formed from a mixture of several
being capped for storage. For the wax-making bees to
compounds.
secrete wax, the ambient temperature in the hive must be
An approximate chemical formula for beeswax is
33 to 36 C (91 to 97 F).
C15 H31 COOC30 H61 .[7] Its main components are
The amount of honey sacriced to wax production
palmitate, palmitoleate, and oleate esters of long-chain
is presently disputed. Current thinking suggests a
(3032 carbons) aliphatic alcohols, with the ratio of
correlation between the amount of honey used to protriacontanyl palmitate CH3 (CH2 )29 O-CO-(CH2 )14 CH3
duce its equivalent weight in wax and the amount of wax
to cerotic acid[8] CH3 (CH2 )24 COOH, the two principal
used to store its equivalent weight in honey. It is believed
components, being 6:1. Beeswax can be classied generthat by multiplying these gures together, that it should
ally into European and Oriental types. The saponication
be possible to provide a gure for the amount of honey
value is lower (35) for European beeswax, and higher
sacriced to build storage comb and vice versa.
(89) for Oriental types.
According to Whitcombs 1946 experiment, 6.66 to 8.80
Beeswax has a relatively low melting point range of 62 to
pounds of honey yields 1 pound of wax.[3] Les Crowders
64 C (144 to 147 F). If beeswax is heated above 85 C
study of ve Langstroth hives, which re-use comb after
(185 F) discoloration occurs. The ash point of beeswax
honey extraction, and ve top bar hives, which extract
is 204.4 C (400 F).[9] Density at 15 C is 958 to 970
honey by crushing the comb, concluded 75%80% as
kg/m.
much honey production and 600% as much beeswax production in the top bar hives, which suggest 24-30 pounds Natural beeswax:[10] When cold it is brittle; at ordinary
of wax per 1 pound of honey.[4][5] These studies only temperatures it is tenacious; its fracture is dry and granmeasured honey production versus comb production; they ular. The sp. gr. at 15 [59F] is from 0.958 to 0.975,
did not account fully for bees feeding in a closed environ- that of melted wax at 98- 99 [208.4F - 210.2F] compared with water at 15.5 [59.9F] is 0.822. It softens
ment.
when held in the hand, and melts at 62- 66 [143.6F Various sources specify anywhere from 20 to 400 pounds
145.4F]; it solidies at 60.5 - 63 [140.9F - 150.8F].
of honey stored per pound of wax. The book, Beeswax
Production, Harvesting, Processing and Products, suggests
1 pound beeswax to store 22 pounds honey.[6]

4 Uses

Processing

When beekeepers extract the honey, they cut o the wax

caps from each honeycomb cell with an uncapping knife
or machine. Its color varies from nearly white to brownish, but most often a shade of yellow, depending on purity
and the type of owers gathered by the bees. Wax from
the brood comb of the honey bee hive tends to be darker
than wax from the honeycomb. Impurities accumulate

Beeswax has many and varied uses. Primarily, it is used

by the bees in making their honeycombs. Apart from this
use by bees, the use of beeswax has become widespread
and varied. Puried and bleached beeswax is used in the
production of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. The
three main types of beeswax products are yellow, white,
and beeswax absolute. Yellow beeswax is the crude
product obtained from the honeycomb, white beeswax is
bleached yellow beeswax, and beeswax absolute is yellow
beeswax treated with alcohol.[11] In food preparation, it

3
for thumb rolls. It can also be used as a metal injection
moulding binder component along with other polymeric
binder materials.[18] Beeswax was formerly used in the
manufacture of phonograph cylinders. It may still be used
to seal formal legal or Royal decree and academic parchments such as placing an awarding stamp imprimatur of
the university upon completion of post-graduate degrees.

5 Historical uses

Beeswax candles and gures

is used as a coating for cheese; by sealing out the air, protection is given against spoilage (mold growth). Beeswax
may also be used as a food additive E901, in small quantities acting as a glazing agent, which serves to prevent
water loss, or used to provide surface protection for some
fruits. Soft gelatin capsules and tablet coatings may also
use E901. Beeswax is also a common ingredient of natural chewing gum.
Use of beeswax in skin care and cosmetics has been increasing. A German study found beeswax to be superior to similar barrier creams (usually mineral oil-based
creams such as petroleum jelly), when used according to
its protocol.[12] Beeswax is used in lip balm, lip gloss,
hand creams, and moisturizers; and in cosmetics such as
eye shadow, blush, and eye liner. Beeswax is an important
ingredient in moustache wax and hair pomades, which
make hair look sleek and shiny.
Candle-making has long involved the use of beeswax,
which is highly ammable, and this material traditionally was prescribed for the making of the Paschal candle or Easter candle. It is further recommended for
the making of other candles used in the liturgy of the Beeswax candles, Alamannic graveyard (Oberacht, Germany),
Roman Catholic Church.[13] Beeswax is also the candle 6th/7th c. AD
constituent of choice in the Orthodox Church.[14]
Beeswax was among the rst plastics to be used, alongFrom a relatively small production of about 10,000 tons a
side other natural polymers such as gutta-percha, horn,
[16]
year, a number of dierent niches are served: beeswax
tortoiseshell, and shellac. For thousands of years,
is an ingredient in surgical bone wax, which is used durbeeswax has had a wide variety of applications; it has
ing surgery to control bleeding from bone surfaces; shoe
been found in the tombs of Egypt, in wrecked Viking
polish and furniture polish can both use beeswax as a
ships, and in Roman ruins. Beeswax never goes bad and
component, dissolved in turpentine or sometimes blended
can be heated and reused. Historically, it has been used:
with linseed oil or tung oil; modeling waxes can also use
beeswax as a component; pure beeswax can also be used
As candles - the oldest intact beeswax candles north
as an organic surfboard wax.[17] Beeswax blended with
of the Alps were found in the Alamannic graveyard
pine rosin, can serve as an adhesive to attach reed plates
of Oberacht, Germany, dating to 6th/7th century
to the structure inside a squeezebox. It can also be used to
AD
make Cutlers resin, an adhesive used to glue handles onto
cutlery knives. It is used in Eastern Europe in egg decora In the manufacture of cosmetics
tion; it is used for writing, via resist dyeing, on batik eggs
As a modelling material in the lost-wax casting pro(as in pysanky) and for making beaded eggs. Beeswax is
used by percussionists to make a surface on tambourines
cess, or cire perdue[19]

REFERENCES

7 References
[1] Beeswax absorption and toxicity. Large amounts of such
waxes in the diet pose theoretical toxicological problems
for mammals.
[2] Brown, R, H. (1981) Beeswax (2nd edition) Bee Books
New and Old, Burrowbridge, Somerset UK. ISBN 0905652-15-0
[3] Beeswax Production, Harvesting, Processing and Products,
Coggshall and Morse. Wicwas Press. 1984-06-01. p. 35.
ISBN 1878075063.
[4] Les Crowder (2012-08-31). Top-Bar Beekeeping: Organic
Practices for Honeybee Health. Chelsea Green Publishing.
ISBN 1603584617.
[5] Top-bar beekeeping in America.
[6] Beeswax Production, Harvesting, Processing and Products,
Coggshall and Morse. Wicwas Press. 1984-06-01. p. 41.
ISBN 1878075063.
Beeswax as Neolithic Dental Filling

For wax tablets used for a variety of writing purposes

In encaustic paintings such as the Fayum mummy
portraits[20]
In bow making
To strengthen and preserve sewing thread, cordage,
shoe laces, etc.
As a component of sealing wax
To to strengthen and to forestall splitting and cracking of wind instrument reeds
To form the mouthpieces of a didgeridoo, and the
frets on the Philippine kutiyapi a type of boat lute
As a sealant or lubricant for bullets in cap and ball
rearms
To stabilize the military explosive Torpex before
being replaced by a petroleum-based product
In producing Javanese batik[21]
As an ancient form of dental tooth lling[22][23]

See also

[7] Umney, Nick; Shayne Rivers (2003). Conservation of

Furniture. Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 164.
[8] LIPID MAPS Databases : LIPID MAPS Lipidomics
Gateway. Lipidmaps.org. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
[9] MSDS for beeswax.. No reported autoignition temperature has been reported
[10] A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, Vol. 5. Sir Edward
Thorpe. Revised and enlarged edition. Longmans, Green,
and Co., London, 1916. Waxes, Animal and vegetable.
Beeswax, p. 737
[11]
[12] Peter J. Frosch, Detlef Peiler, Veit Grunert, Beate
Grunenberg (July 2003).
Wirksamkeit von
Hautschutzprodukten im Vergleich zu Hautpegeprodukten bei Zahntechnikern eine kontrollierte
Feldstudie. Ecacy of barrier creams in comparison
to skin care products in dental laboratory technicians
a controlled trial.. Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft (in German) (Blackwell Synergy) 1
(7): 547557. doi:10.1046/j.1439-0353.2003.03701.x.
PMID 16295040. Retrieved 1/12/2008. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that the use of after
work moisturizers is highly benecial and under the
chosen study conditions even superior to barrier creams
applied at work. This approach is more practical for many
professions and may eectively reduce the frequency
of irritant contact dermatitis. Check date values in:
|accessdate= (help)
[13] 'Altar Candles, 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Carnauba wax
Honeycomb
Paran wax
Pysanka

[14] , Use of Candles in the Orthodox Church

[15] Statistics from: Food And Agricultural Organization of
United Nations: Economic And Social Department: The
Statistical Division. UN Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database.

[16] Uwe Wolfmeier, Hans Schmidt, Franz-Leo Heinrichs, Georg Michalczyk, Wolfgang Payer, Wolfram
Dietsche, Klaus Boehlke, Gerd Hohner, Josef Wildgruber Waxes in Ullmanns Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2002.
doi:10.1002/14356007.a28_103.
[17] 'Raw Beeswax Uses, MoreNature
[18] 'Metal Injection Molding Process (MIM)", 2012 EngPedia
[19] LOK Congdon (1985) Water-Casting Concave-Convex
Wax Models for Cire Perdue Bronze Mirrors. American
Journal of Archaeology, 89, 511515
[20] Egyptology online
[21] Ormeling, F. J. 1956. The Timor problem: a geographical
interpretation of an underdeveloped island. Groningen and
The Hague: J. B. Wolters and Martinus Nijho.
[22] Oldest tooth lling may have been found Light Years
CNN.com Blogs. Lightyears.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved
2013-07-05.
[23] Don't Use Your Teeth. Retrieved 2013-12-13.

External links
The chemistry of bees Joel Loveridge, School of
Chemistry, University of Bristol [accessed November 2005]

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

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Beeswax Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeswax?oldid=665616813 Contributors: Wesley, Bryan Derksen, William Avery,

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