Wax attainment of sugar cane-of-sugar from by-product of the sucro-alcooleira industry: extration, purificação and characterization

Author(s)

Thais Maria Ferreira de Souza Vieira

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos
• Defense date: 2003-03-10

Examining board members

Daniel Barrera Arellano; Caroline Joy Steel; Marisa A. B Regitano D'Arce; Nara Lucia Facioli; Gil Eduardo Serra; Lireny Aparecida Guaraldo Gonçalves; Jane Mara Block

• Advisor: Daniel Barrera Arellano

Abstract

Waxes have important specific properties for food and cosmetic uses, and for cleaning and polishing applications. The knowledge of the characteristics of waxes is essential for their application. Wax recovered from sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) filter cake, a by-product of the sugar and alcohol industry, represents a potential alternative to carnauba, beeswax, and synthetic waxes, considering the enormous resources of raw material in sugarcane growing countries. Crude wax solvent extraction and fractionation were studied in this project. Two types of filter cake extracted with hexane yielded 4.32 and 7.11% crude sugarcane wax, respectively. Purified sugarcane waxes presented analytical indexes similar to those of commercial bee and carnauba waxes. Purified sugarcane wax appeared to be homogeneous in terms of composition, containing few lipid classes, as indicated by DSC analysis. Single narrow peaks were observed during melting and crystallization of these samples. The thermal properties of purified sugarcane wax (melting peak between 80.9 and 81.7ºC) closely resembled those of carnauba wax (melting peaks at 82.0 and 88.1ºC). Fatty acids of sugarcane waxes were mainly normal and long-chain saturated compounds, predominantly C16:0 (palmitic) and C28:0 (octacosanoic). Long-chain saturated fatty alcohols, ranging from C24 to C34, were observed in sugarcane wax samples, with a large redominance of octacosanol (C28H57OH). Octacosanol content ranged from 118,57 to 224,89 mg.g-1 (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 99/11093-0 - Production of sugarcane wax from subproduct of the sugar-alcohol industry: extraction, purification and characterization
• Grantee: Thais Maria Ferreira de Souza Vieira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate