US2275660A - Vegetable wax - Google Patents

Description

thoroughly dried in a Patented Mar. v

UNITED IsTAras miffigwi .lolm vim Steinle ma, Racine, Wla,

and sums. McLeod, a. i n W s 'alllrnm toS. C. Johnsont Son,

a-corporation if-Wisconsin; i

No Drawing. Application Serial N0. 284,

9 Claims. (c1. 210-1503) "This facturing vegetable waxes and deals, morespecifically, with a process for manufacturing those raw material vegetable waxes which are or can be obtained from the plants inth form of a wax powder. a

By way of approach it may be" briefly explain the prior process for ing the commercial raw material wax from the crude wax powder. This bid process iswell ildesirable to invention pertains to aprocess for manuand the term raw material waxreiers to the solid wax cakes which are manufactured from the wax manufacturlustrated with the typical commercially available carnauba wax which is obtained in its initial state as a crude powder from the carnauba' palm leaves. The methods heretofore employed in manufacturing wax cakes from this crude powder have not changed appreciably from the somewhat primitive methods originally introduced in that small area of Brazil which is the sole commercial source of carnauba wax, and comprise the following procedure.-

The natives cut the leaves from the tall palm trees with knives attached to the end of long poles and place them on the ground of the drying fields. Under an intensely hot sun the leaves are about three days. Although wax retained in the adsorbent.

posed of both wax and non-waxy particles. The

term crude powder refers to the wax powder prior to any removal of the fine" non-waxy material,

powder. a i A Raw material .wax; such as .carnauba-wax, is highly colored andits commercial use necessitates the: refinement of the 'wax' primarily for? the purpose of decreasing its coloration, butl'also. in some instances for the Majnyprocesses have been proposedto obtain the above results. One large groupof ,these".

processes employs adsorbents and produces a product of unaltered wax components, but thedecolorizing thereby effected has not proven entirely satisfactory. These processes require a re-' melting ofthe' raw material wax cakes and have proven costly by virtueof the largeamount of I "Another large group of processes, "which, also require a re-melting of the raw material wax the wax on the surface isthereby loosened, the

greater portion nevertheless remains enclosed in cakes, employs chemical means toeffect a bleaching of the wax. The products of these processes are of satisfactory'lightness .of color, but the the shrunken fan-like leaf and must be removed therefrom by a mechanical slitting and beating of the leaves. This beating of the thoroughly dried brittle leaves takes ,place in a small closed shed .and is accomplished by manually beating the suspended leaves with a stick.

The wdery wax falls to the fioor together with a eat deal of leafy matter composed largely of particles comparable in size, shape and weight chemical action which is suillcient to bleachthe wax will also change the chemical and structural nature of the wax components to an extent which prohibits the use. of these productsfas'a wax in many commercial manufactures. To recapitulate. the light colored wax which has been obtained from the rawlmaterialwax i by means of chemical bleaching cont icaily and/or structurally =a1tered"'wax compoe nents, and'the chemically and structurally unaltered wax which has been obtained from the raw material wax bym'eans of adsorbent decolorizing methods is not entirely satisfactory in lightness of color and is obtained only atconsiderable cost. i i

An object of our invention is to obtain-a raw material war: of satisfactory lightness ofcolon. Another, object of our invention is to obtain a raw material wax from crude wax powder whichis of satisfactory lightness of color, of uniform composition, and contains the chemically'and brownish-black color. This undesirable deep not all, commercial wax products. 1,

In this specification and in the following claims, we use the term wax powder to, identify the powdery substance which isremoved as such coloration of the wax precludes its use in most, if

from the vegetable matterand which is com which is released from the. leafy matter in the v structurally unaltered original'wax components.

It is stillanother object of our inventionto provide means for removing the coloring matter crude wax powder during the melting processof' this wax powder. still another object; of our invention is to manufacture a light. colored,raw

purposeof. removin non-waxy matter and increasing the uniformity of thewax composition. w I Y chem- 1 perimentation wax powder obtained from these must be introduced leaves, and the hot molten wax wax.

initial material. J v

invention turns on the discovery of the nature and cause of the coloration in the raw material wax. In order that this discovery may be appreciated, it is believed .desirable to examine the coloration from a theoretical standpoint.

It has long been recognized that the coloration of the raw material wax depends upon the age of the leaves from which the wax is obtained. For example, the wax obtained from the palhas, or open camauba leaves, is of a very darl: color,

whereas the wax obtained from the "o1hos or young unopened carnauba leaves, is of avery light yellow color. We have discovered" by 'exthat, the waxformed by meltin the very small pure wax particles obtained from the old or the young leaves is practically colorless and that the greatly materialwax which is prepared from the crude difierent leaves theraw 'material'wax. Following this line of reasoning, we further discovered that the coloration is introduced during the melting of the crude during the manufacture of be incorporated within the molten wax. We accomplish this result by adding suitable adsorbents to the wax powder at its initial melting so that the resinous and coloring constituents are removed by the adsorbent before they are incorporated into the wax. Any adsorbents heretofore used to purify molten wax maybe used in our process, such as activated carbons, activated The admelting takes place, or it maybe added as the wax powder melts. The former is the preferred differing color of .the raw wax powder. Part of this coloration is obtained from sources other than the leafy matter, such as sand, clay, dirt and humus material, but this coloration can readily be satisfactorily removed from the wax cake by means of subsequent remelting and filtration. The leafy matter, however, contains diflicultly removable high coloring substances, such as chlorophyll and xanthophyll, which, together with their decompositio products and the decomposition products 0 other color-forming substances, 'are extracted by the I hot molten wax to form'the greater part of the undesirable deep coloration ot the crude raw material wax cakes. This coloration is thereby so thoroughly incorporated, within thewax that its subsequent complete removal has not been attained by any known process whereby the product produced retains the components of the original wax unchanged. f 5

The unopened yellow olhos leaves therefore produce the yellow colored wax because the leafy material in the crude powder obtained therefrom contains no chlorophyll -or other deep coloring substances incident to the more mature open extracts only the light yellow coloration composed largely of carotin. Crude powder whichis obtained from the green opened palhas leaves contains the fine leafy matter beaten from these leaves whereby the deep coloring substances, such as chlorophyll and xanthophyll, are introduced into the powder and are subsequently extracted by the hot molten wax to form the deep-coloration of the raw material wax cakes.

Contrary to the teachings of the prior art, we have discovered that the coloration of wax is not dependent on' the living plant leaves or the age thereof; that the coloration is incorporated into the wax during the melting of the crude powder; and that the coloring matter released from the leafy matter. during the melting process can'bc removed before it is incorporated into the molten Althoughadsorbents have been 'used in the prior. art .of remelting and decoloriz'ing the wax cakes, noone has heretofore recognized he initial melting of such powder.

adsorbent to the wax wax powder. This tended for use in this method. I

The amount of adsorbent depends, of course, on

the particular adsorbent used and on the character and amount of impurities present in the crude wax powder. Wehave found that the use ofabout. 5% of a suitable activated clay, such as Tonsil, based on the weight of the powder, gives good resultswith the average crude carnauba amount of adsorbent maybe reduced orincreased with a corresponding decrease in quality or quantity of the final product. The optimum amount of other adsorbents inprocess may be calculated on the basis of their comparison with a suitable activated adsorbent clay which is used in an amount equal to about 5% powder.

The crude wax powder containing the thoroughly mixed adsorbent is heated until all :tl'ie wax is molten, care being taken to avoid excessive heating. The molten mass is then filtered to remove the adsorbent, leafy material, and other insoluble solid impurities. Any suitable filter press, such as a steam press, may be employed. The resulting wax filtrate, upon cooling, forms light colored wax cakes containing the original chemically and structurally unaltered wax components. v

The addition of the adsorbent has the further advantage of increasing large scale filtration economy as a result of the formation of a filterthe harmful coloring matter.

The amount of leafy matter in the crude powder may be reduced by screening the powder through one or more screens of from 20 to about mesh per inch. A series of screenings through screens of increasing fineness of mesh is the preferred method. The crude powder may also be purified by subjecting it to' an air flotation separation adapted to remove the fine leafy matter from the wax powder particles. Centrifugal air flotation separation wherein the air velocity \melting of the wax.

is adjustedfor the size and mass of the wax powder particles is the separation. A combination of both screening and air flotation separation gives the maximummechanical separation of the non-waxy matter present in-the crude wax powder and to the same extent decreases the source of both the resinous matter and the harmful high coloring substances which are otherwise present during the initial The mechanical separation matter from crude vegetable in: fully in the application of non-waxy powder is described more of the weight of the heated plate and frame preferred typ of air flotationpowder which is mechanical ness of color for commercial now ableadsorbent such as "Tonsil" press, and the filtrat Example 1 and the product obtained intention, to claim all novelty inherent therein as refining process and then melted with the addition of a suitable-adsorbent accord-1 wax of a very satisfactory composition and light- "Example 1 One hundred 'poundsof crude carnauba wax placed in a kettle together with a suitclay or Darco G60 adsorbent carbon. After the adsorbent and wax powder have been thoroughly mixed, heat is applied with continued agitation until all the wax is in the molten state. The temperature is not allowedto exceed about 22091 The molten mass isthen filtered through a suitable filter press, such as a steam heated plate and frame e, upon cooling, forms light' colored wax cakes.

Example 2 One hundred and twenty pounds of crude carinvention will provide a raw material fprises subjecting the said crude, vegetable wax g" centrifugal air flotation purification powder through a series of screens operation which w nauba wax powder is screened through a screen of about mesh per inch followed by another screen of about 60 mesh per inchina "Gyro Whipscreen oftthe type described in United States Patent No. 2,159,549. The fines of the screening operation are subjected to further purification in a Raymond centrifugal air flotation separator. This separator is"; described in United States Patent No. 1,783,357. 'I'h'e fines from the air'fiotation separation are treated according to yields very pure and light colored wax cakes.

The herein-described process has notbeen employed in any process known to the authors for manufacturing raw material wax from crude vegetable wax powder and, although the process has been set forth with reference to camauba wax, noilimitation is thereby imposed upon the process in that it is applicable to all vegetable waxes which are obtained from the plant fibers in the form of a powder. Wax powders so obtained include, among others, esparto grass wax, ouricury wax and sugar cane wax.

It is evident that our process offers many advantages over prior methods for manufacturing 7 powder through screens adding to the fines,

' 'ture until the raw material wax from crude vegetable wax powtheories advanced in the explanation of the improved results obtained, but only by the terms of the accompanying claims in which it is our broadly as possible in view of the prior art.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States, is:

1. In the manufacture of wax from .crude vegethe productioh'thereof, the method which comprises adding to the said crude vegetable wax powder a solid adsorbent adapted to adsorb 'chlorophyl and like coloring matter, heating the resultingmixture until the wax therein becomes 1 molten, and filtering the molten mass.

.2. In the manufacture of wax from crude cartable-wax powder,

adding to wax powders solid adsorbent adapted to adsorb chlorophyl and like coloring matter, heating'the resulting mixture until the wax therein becomes molten, and fllteringthe molten mass.

-3. In the manufacture of wax from crude vegewhich has not beenmelted in the production thereof, the method which compowder to a adapted to separate wax from non-wax particles, the refined wax portion'of the powder, which is carried from the separator by the air current, a solid -adsorbent adapted to remove chlorophyl and like coloring matter, heating the resulting mixture until molten, and separating nonw material.

'4. In the manufacture vegetable wax powder,

the molten wax from the ,of wax from. the crude which has not been melted .in the production thereof, the method which comprises screening the said crude vegetable wax of increasing fineness of mesh the final screen being of about mesh; subjecting the fines of the screening contains the wax particles to further purification in a centrifugal air flotation separator adapted to remove flne leafy material size and other non-waxy matof powder particle ter from particles of the size, shape and mass of the waxpowder particles; adding to the refined powder, which contains the wax and is carried from the separator by the-air current, a solid adsorbent adaptedto adsorb chlorophyl and like coloring matter, heating the resulting mixture of powder and adsorbent until the wax therein becomes molten, and separating the molten wax from the non-wax material. C

5. In the manufacture of carnauba wax from its (ii 11116 powder, which has not been melted in the production thereof, the method which complises screening the said crude camaubawax of about 40 to 60 mesh,

solid adsorbent apted to adsorb chlorophyl and like coloring ma ter, heating the resultingmixcomprises subjecting the said crude carnauba wax powder to a centrifugal air flotation separatlon adapted to remove 55 the flne leafy material, of powder particle size, adding to the refined powder, which is carried from the separator by the air current, a solid adsorbent adapted to adsorb chlorophyl and like coloring matter, heating the resulting mixture until the wax'therein becomes molten, and filtering the molten mass to obtain the pure wax filtrate.'.

7. Inthe manufacture of carnauba wax from its crude powder, which has not been melted in table wax powder, which has not been melted in the production thereof, the method which comsaid crude carnauba wax prises screening the powder through a series of screens of increasing fineness of mesh, the final screen being about 60 mesh, subjecting the powder which passes through the screens to a centrifugal air flotation separation adapted to separate the fine leafy material, of powder particle size from wax particles of like-size, adding to the. refined powder, which contains the wax and is carried from the separator by the air current, a solid adsorbent adapted tolad'sorb chlorophyl and like coloring l-comprises to the said crude carnau the wax therein becomes which contain the wax, a

wax therein becomes molten, and

matter heating the resulting mixture of powder and adsorbent until-the wax therein becomes the pure wax filtrate. v 8. In the manuiacture of wax from crude wax powder which is removed from vegetable matter amo o'ao 9. In the manufacture or carnauba wax from :the ,crude powderwhich is obtained from themolten, and filtering the molten mass to obtain carnauba palm leaves in the iorm'oi; a powder,

in the form of a powder, the method which com-- prises substantially reducing theamount oi the non-waxy constituent of powder particle size in the crude wax'powde'r, adding to. the refined powder an adsorbent 'adapted to adsorb chlorophyl, heating the resulting mixture-until the wax therein becomes molten, ten wax irom the non-waxy matter.

and separating the mob matter.

the method which comprises substantially re-' a ducing the amount of the non-waxy constituent of powder particle size in the crude wax powder,

adding to the refined powder an adsorbentadapted.to adsorb chiorophyl, heating the resulting mixture until the wax, becomes molten, separating the molten wax from the no waxy oHNvERNdNs'rEmm,