Beeswax is a wax produced by honey bees and used for construction of honeycombs. It has various physical properties including a melting point of 60-70°C and insolubility in water. Beeswax is composed primarily of esters, fatty acids, and hydrocarbons. It is produced in the wax glands of worker bees and used to construct honeycomb cells to store honey and pollen. Beeswax has numerous applications including in cosmetics, wood polish, and candles.

1. BEESWAX
PROPERTIES, COMPOSITION
AND PROCESSING.
PRESENTED BY
THIRUMOORTHY .P
PALB7248
M.Sc(FSN).UAS,GKVK

2. CONTENTS
• BEES WAX
• PROPERTIES
• COMPOSITION
• PROCESSING
• STORAGE
• USES AND APPLICATION
• SUMMARY AND
CONCLUSION
• REFERENCE

3. BEES PRODUCE WAX
• Bees need wax as construction material for their
combs.
• Beeswax is a true wax secreted as liquid but solidifies
when exposed to air and scales are formed is secreted
by the four pairs of wax glands on the ventral side of
the abdomen present in worker bees of age 14-18
days.

4. The comb hexagon – an ideal form
for the honey combs
One gram of wax will serve for the
construction of 20 cm². The comb is not only
the place for storage of honey, pollen and the
cradle and house of the larvae, but it serves
also as a communication net for the honey
bee colony. 100 g of wax can hold 2-4 kg of
honey.

5. WAX PRODUCTION AND COMB CONSTRUCTION
DETERMINED BY FOLLOWING FACTORS
• Nectar Flow
• Brood Rearing (Egg Laying)
• The Presence of a Queen
• Temperature
• The Presence of Pollen as a Protein Source

6. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF BEES WAX
• The COLOUR of the freshly produced beeswax is
White, later it turns to Yellow. The typical yellow
colour, originates from propolis and pollen colorants.
• while the Brown colour is due to the pigments of the
larval excrements

7.  STRUCTURE of beeswax is crystalline. The crystallisation of
beeswax depends on the storage. The crystallisation process
increases upon storage of wax until 3-4 months. While at the same
time, its stiffness and elasticity increases. Specific gravity 0.95.
 The hardness of beeswax is an important quality factor the harder
the wax, the better the wax quality.
 TEMPERATURE At 30-35 °C it becomes plastic, at 46-47°C the
structure of a hard body is destroyed, at 60 to 70°C it begins to
melt. Heating to 95-105° C leads to formation of surface foam.
 SOLUBILIZATION Beeswax is also insoluble in water and
resistant to many acids. It is soluble in most organic solvents such
as acetone, ether, benzene, xylol, toluene, benzene, chloroform,
tetrachlormethane

8. SENSORY PROPERTIES OF BEESWAX

9.  Pure beeswax from Apis mellifera consists of at least 284
different compounds. Not all have been completely
identified but over 111 are volatile.
 At least 48 compounds were found to contribute to the aroma
of beeswax. Quantitatively, the major .compounds are
saturated and unsaturated monoesters, diesters, saturated and
unsaturated hydrocarbons, free acids and hydroxy polyesters.
 The composition of wax from Asian honeybee species is
much simpler and contains fewer compounds in different
proportions (Phadke et al., 1969, 1971; Phadke and Nair,
1970, 1973 and Narayana, 1970).
COMPOSITION OF BEESWAX

10.  Complex esters of mono atomic alcohols and fatty acids form
70.4 to 74.7% of wax; other components are, free acids 13.5
to 15.0% saturated hydrocarbons 12.5 to 15.5%.
 Beeswax is rich in vitamin A (4096 IU/100g). There are slight
variations a properties of waxes of different species (Phadke
and Phadke, 1975)

11. MANUFACTURE METHODS
• Hot water extraction using forced immersion
• Extraction with boiling water and a wax press
• Combined steam and press extraction
• Steam extraction
• Centrifugal extraction
• Heat extraction with electric elements

12. PROCESSING

15. STORAGE
• Beeswax should only be stored in its rendered, clean form.
Before rendering, it will be quickly attacked by wax moths,
which are able to destroy large quantities of wax in short
periods of time.
• Storage should be in cool dry places and never in the same
room with any kind of pesticide.

16. USES OF BEESWAX

17. APPLICATION OF BEESWAX FOR DIFFERENT PRODUCT CATEGORIES
SOURCE
EU Market Survey, Honey and Beeswax, 2002,
www.cbi.eu

18. Ancient Indonesian batik

19. SOURCE
EU Market Survey, Honey and
Beeswax, 2002, www.cbi.eu

20. SUMMARY
• Production volume of honey across India from FY 2015 to FY
2017 (in 1,000 metric tons)
This statistic represents the
production volume of honey
in India from fiscal year
2015 to fiscal year 2017.
The honey production
volume amounted to 3.7
thousand metric tons in the
country during fiscal year
2017, down from 4.1
thousand metric tons in
fiscal year 2016.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/7623
67/india-honey-production-volume/

21. REFERENCE
• Bee Product Science, www.bee-hexagon.net ,
April 2016.
• ABROL,D.P. Bee keeping a compressive
guide to bees and beekeeping. scientific
publishers (India).
• STEFAN BOGDANOV Beeswax: History,
Uses and Trade. Bee Product Science,
www.bee-hexagon.net April 2016.
• Google images.com