A preliminary study on the application of membrane separation technique for the refining of the sugarcane wax from filter press cake

Abstract. With the increasing demand on the vegetable waxes, various studies have been conducted to recover sugarcane wax from filter press cake. However, the wax obtained on such studies has qualities not desirable for industrial application.In the present study, membrane separation technique and washing with water on the extraction and refining of the cane wax has been integrated. The effect of such modification on the quality of the recovered wax has been studied. Experimental results showed the effectiveness of the membrane in the removal of the pigments in the wax laden solution. The recovered was has a color comparable to Carnauba Wax, a highly known commercially available vegetable wax. The washing with water on the other hand eliminated some of the impurities in the wax even before extraction. Test results on the Melting Point Determination is relatively higher compared to the data showed in previous literatures. Scanning Electron Microscopy was used to study the morphology of the membrane before and after extraction.