Thermal Properties of Beeswax and Beeswax-Paraffin Mixtures

The thermal properties of beeswaxes: unexpected findings

“…They are less consistent with published melting points for A. mellifera waxes (Table·1), suggesting that the complexity of the wax mixture in Apis results in unique thermal and physical characteristics (Buchwald et al, 2006). One previous study used DSC to analyze A. mellifera wax (Timbers et al, 1977); our thermogram for this species corresponds well to these findings, but the authors did not quantify the heat of fusion or other relevant melting characteristics. The clear advantage of DSC analysis lies in the ability to quantify thermal characteristics that are not apparent in capillary melting point tests or other less precise methods.…”

“…Utermark and Schicke (Utermark and Schicke, 1963) and Tulloch (Tulloch, 1980) reported melting transitions between 61 and 63°C for A. mellifera wax using traditional methods. Timbers et al (Timbers et al, 1977) examined A. mellifera wax with modern thermal analysis methods and found a melting transition that peaked at 68°C, while Southwick (Southwick, 1985) found the thermal conductivity of A. mellifera wax to be 0.36ϫ10 -3 cal·(cm·s·°C) -1…”

Standard methods forApis melliferabeeswax research

“…Numerous studies employing different gas chromatography (GC) and/or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-coupled analytical methods allowed detailed insight into beeswax chemical composition (Aichholz & Lorbeer, 1999, 2000Jim enez, Bernal, Aumente, Toribio, & Bernal, 2003;Jim enez, Bernal, Aumente et al, 2004 were mostly used for determination of pesticide residues in beeswax (Bernal, del Nozal, Toribio, Jim enez, & Atienza, 1997;Jim enez, Bernal, del Nozal, & Alonso, 2004;Pirard et al, 2007;Y añez, Mart ın, Bernal, Nozal, & Bernal, 2014), while Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was employed for the chemical fingerprinting of beeswax, as well as successful detection of adulterants in beeswax . Furthermore, isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) was found to be very useful in establishing the geographical origin of beeswax (Chesson, Tipple, Erkkila, Cerling, & Ehleringer, 2011;Tipple, Chesson, Erkkila, Cerling, & Ehleringer, 2012). All of the above methods are described in the following sub-sections of Sections 5 and 6.…”

“…To determine the amount of an element present in the wax, a calibration function will be calculated for each analyte using the relative values of the signals generated by the analysis of standard solutions with known and increasing concentration of these elements. (Chesson et al, 2011;Tipple et al, 2012). The most significant source of hydrogen to animals is meteoric waters (Bowen, Wassenaar, & Hobson, 2005) and the d 2 H values of meteoric waters vary in systematic and highly predictable patterns across land surfaces (Bowen & Revenaugh, 2003;Craig, 1961).…”

“…Thus, the d 2 H values of beeswax can be useful in identifying the region-of-origin ( Figure 34). Stable isotope analysis and the isoscape method have been applied to bee products (Chesson et al, 2011(Chesson et al, , 2014aCho et al, 2012;Schellenberg et al, 2010;Tipple et al, 2012).…”