I am making a custom grease (castor oil & sodium stearate) that will be suspended in beeswax. I have found that saponifying some beeswax for use in the grease results in higher operating temperatures after the grease is melted with the wax. I cannot have any glycerin in the final product, so I do not yet know how to properly make my own soap [at home]. The first reason I cannot have any glycerin, is because this will be used as a bullet lubricant for cast lead bullet, and I am concerned that the glycerin may form acrolein in the final application; the second reason is because the hydroscopic properties of glycerin are also bad. For more information, look up Felix World Famous Lube.
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As far as I can tell, there are no glycerides in beeswax... but I cannot find great data on that. If there are no glycerides in bees wax, then I do not believe it is possible to yield glycerin in the saponification process of only beeswax.
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I am considering a transesterifcation process, just to remove any possible glycerin, but I made need butanol (high saponification temperature of beeswax) which is expensive to the point that a I'd rather do something entirely different. I may be able to use ethanol, if I slowly titrate the ethoxide into the molten beeswax. I also have many open questions here, since bees wax is more than just fatty acids.
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So, does beeswax contain any glycerides?
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As far as I can tell, there are no glycerides in beeswax... but I cannot find great data on that. If there are no glycerides in bees wax, then I do not believe it is possible to yield glycerin in the saponification process of only beeswax.
*
I am considering a transesterifcation process, just to remove any possible glycerin, but I made need butanol (high saponification temperature of beeswax) which is expensive to the point that a I'd rather do something entirely different. I may be able to use ethanol, if I slowly titrate the ethoxide into the molten beeswax. I also have many open questions here, since bees wax is more than just fatty acids.
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So, does beeswax contain any glycerides?