Thermal properties and hydrocarbon composition of beeswax from Mozambique and other geographical origins

Abstract

[EN] The industry demands high quality and standards-compliant beeswax, difficult to find in western countries, hence the necessity to explore new geographical sources. This work focuses on the characterization of beeswax from Mozambique in terms of saturated hydrocarbon profile and thermal properties comparing them with others from diverse origins. The hydrocarbons found (C21H44-C35H72) do not contain enough information for its differentiation. However, melting and cooling enthalpies together with all the temperatures associated with the different lipid polymorphic forms achieved this goal. A higher average melting enthalpy values obtained in Mozambique samples (up to 234 J/g) and Honduras (231 J/g) indicates more energy is required to melt these beeswaxes than those from Spain (193 J/g) and ¿reference¿ (168 J/g). This might be linked to the tropical temperatures where the bees produce specific wax. These results are significant towards characterizing beeswax from tropical climates and for the industry to exploit its peculiar characteristics.