Beeswax has been historically used in candles, to sculpt figurines, beeswax paintings (batiking) and in casting metal even before the Bronze age. Beeswax figurines have survived from royal Egyptian tombs dating to 3400 BC In the tropics of northern Australia aborigines have used beeswax 30,000 to 50,000 years ago to sculpt waxen figurines. Manufacture Beeswax is manufactured by honey bees themselves. Originally believed to have been collected from flowers or made from pollen, beeswax was discovered in 1744 to be synthesized by four pairs of wax-secreting epidermal glands on the ventral side of worker abdomens.
Beeswax is produced by quiescent bees about 14 days old and worked into intricate complex double-sided hexagonal comb nest architectures. Among the >22,000 described bee species worldwide, wax is synthesized and used as a building material by only a few groups of mostly highly social colonial species. These include the worldwide genus of bumblebees (Bombus spp.) and their neotropical relatives the orchid bees and the extremely diverse and successful pantropical stingless bees (e.g. Melipona and Trigona).
Beeswax when first secreted by the wax glands appears as a translucent white ellipsoidal flake. Freshly constructed beeswax combs, prior to their use for food storage or larval growth, are similarly bright white. With storage or the first brood cycle, they become yellow to tan, and if several years old, can be almost brown-black in color. Fresh beeswax is soft to brittle with a slight balsamic taste. Its density is 0.95-0.96 with a melting range of 62-65oC. It is insoluble in water, but quite soluble in organic solvents such as chloroform, benzene or ether.
Beeswax is a complex mixture of lipids and hydrocarbons. Over 300 individual chemical components have thus far been identified from pure beeswax. One gram of beeswax can be worked into about 20 cm2 two-sided comb surface area. It requires about 55 grams of beeswax built into combs to store every kg of ripened and capped honey. Honey:wax ratios in standard equipment vary from about 17.8-19.8:1. In the U.S. one kg of beeswax is marketed for each 50 kg of honey.
Prior to invention of the centrifugal honey extractor, the wax was separated from the honey by squeezing/straining and washing with water. Today, beekeepers obtain their wax from three primary sources: wax cappings, bits of burr comb scrapings from hive bodies, and frames and old combs which are to be recycled. The best grades of commercial beeswax are light yellow and come from fresh honey cappings. For each metric ton extracted honey, only about 45-55 kg of beeswax results.
Various methods have been used to separate wax from honey, wax cocoons or brood: straining method, submerged brood chamber method, submerged sac method, solar wax melter, heated wax press and heated centrifugal method.
The simplest method with limited equipment or funds is to melt the combs in hot water and let the wax rise to the surface and harden. This material can then be strained and remelted/reformed into rectangular molds for shipment or sale.
Uses and Functions
The single largest consumer of beeswax is the cosmetics and related industries. It is used in various products including facial beauty creams, ointments, lotions, lipsticks, rouge and cold creams. The largest industry using beeswax as a raw material is the candle industry. Pure or mostly pure beeswax candles are demanded by the Roman Catholic church for use during religious services. The third largest user is the beekeeping industry itself for making into milled hexagonal-stamped beeswax foundation. Minor users are the pharmaceutical and dental industries where beeswax is used in salves, ointments, pill coatings, adhesive waxes and for impression and base plate wax.
Other minor uses of beeswax include uses in waterproofing materials, for floor and furniture polishes, for grinding/polishing optical lenses and as a minor ingredient in certain adhesives, children's crayons, candy and chewing gum, inks, nursery grafting, musical instruments, ski and ironing wax and wax for bow strings used in archery.
A lot medicinal literature concerning the use of beeswax for its potential health benefits for humans, has generally been disregarded by the medical profession in Western societies. However, beeswax and products of the bee hive have been used in local, traditional medicine for centuries. In the UK doctors have had success in treating hay fever patients with beeswax. hough U.S. exports of beeswax have increased somewhat, the source of the demand remains elusive.
As mentioned earlier, cosmetics use is increasing, and this undoubtedly explains some of the increase in demand. It must also be noted, that although the U.S. domestic production doesn't satisfy the domestic demand, the U.S. is among the top five exporters to the EU with a market share of 7.8% and 7.5% in 1992 and 1993 respectively. The import totals of beeswax to the U.S. by both quantity and value can be seen in Table 4. The import totals for unbleached beeswax also include a small amount of other insect waxes and spermaceti, which a wax derived from the head of the sperm whale. However, because beeswax is the main (insect) wax used, only a very small percentage of the total imports are other than beeswax and the import totals of beeswax is fairly accurate.
