Paraffin Wax Group of Petroleum Waxes

[15521246] Muhammad Fadhila Ragil Yoga ⦁ [15521221] Gigih Lintang Prasetyo ⦁ [15521123] Nailis
Sa’adah ⦁ [16521171] Rizky Alfianto ⦁ [16521094] Selva Susilowati Liau

ABSTRACT
Petroleum wax is a white or colorless solid with soft texture which is derived or as a side product from
petroleum refinery process. It's molecule containing in a range of 20 - 40 of carbon atoms with < 1g/cm3 of
density. At room temperature, petroleum wax is a solid while begins to melt approximately at 37OC with a
boiling point more than 370OC. In daily life, they are being used for lubrication, adhesive mixture, candle,
insulator, food containers, paper manufactures, etc. Looking at the process, petroleum wax coming from
wax distillated of crude oil and obtained with the batch – type, continuous – type, and pipe – still process
with solvent dewaxing method. Petroleum wax itself could be devided into three big groups; paraffin waxes,
petrolatums, and microcrystalline waxes which determined based on their crystalline structure. Paraffin
wax is a refined mixture of associated solid paraffin hydrocarbons and consist of more specific part those
are softer paraffin waxes, intermediate paraffin waxes, and harder paraffin waxes. The structure of molecular
chain of paraffin waxes determine their physical properties either melting points in certain temperature or
such a density and so on. Paraffin wax uses e.g. cosmetics in daily life.

INTRODUCTION Petroleum generally balanced between two

groups such as paraffinic with naphthenic which is
Petroleum is the single largest source of
then referred to as paraffinic – naphthenic. Crude
hydrocarbon wax or known as petroleum wax.
oil not only comprises the components mentioned
Petroleum wax itself is a by – product of the
above but also varies between crude oils to each
petroleum industry due wax must be removed from
other and other contents such as sulfur and
oil to produce lubricants with the right low
impurities. In addition, the content will also
temperature characteristics. The largest use of
determine the results of the processing of
petroleum wax so far is on the manufacture of
petroleum such as the formation of wax products. It
paper containers for packaging milk, secondly for
can be said that the same amount of crude oil does
bread wrappers and the third is as a base of wax.
not necessarily produce as much wax product, but
These three main uses require more than 50
depends on the composition of its component
percent of the wax produced.
content. Crude oil from Pennsylvania (paraffinic)
Crude oil is essentially hydrocarbon while it and middle east (paraffinic – naphthenic) is a good
normally contains more than 97 percent example of crude oil to produce raffinate in the
hydrocarbons, carbon content of 83 – 87 percent form of petroleum wax in which the content is 36
and an 11 – 14 percent hydrogen content wherein percent paraffin hydrocarbons, 45 percent
the remainder are oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur or naphten, 14 percent aromatic, and 9 percent resin
another impurities. The modern classification of and aspaltin.
petroleum is currently divided into groups such as:
In the other hand, there some properties refer
paraffinic, aromatic, naphthenic, polyaromatic,
to paraffin hydrocarbon group:
polynaftenic, and aspaltic where some or all of them
are mixed in crude oil.
 Number of Melting Specific The classification of those three groups can be
Carbons point (OC) Gravity distinguished by their crystalline characteristics,
C20 37 0.734 where (1) paraffin wax group has relatively large
C25 54 0.748 crystals (macro crystals). Softer paraffin wax
C30 66 0.759 contains more oil than intermediate one and the
C35 74 0.767 melting points usually are between 122 – 144OF.
C40 81 0.773 Intermediate paraffin waxes have negligible tensile
C43 85 0.781 strength and the melting points are between 118 –
C50 92 -
135OF. The harder paraffin has melting points
C64 95 -
around 123 – 165OF but usually from 126 – 146OF.
(2) Petrolatums are product of petroleum which is
In addition, each region / country that include in petroleum waxes group but as a matter
produces petroleum also has a difference in of fact, it seem not like a real wax where is has
producing petroleum wax from crude oil. For amorphoid or amorphous – like in structure. Not
example, in the US the states of Texas, Longview, much more than 25 percent of the hydrocarbons of
and Panhandle have relatively high wax content of petrolatums are waxlike. (3) Microcrystalline wax
about 6 - 7 percent, Romania 4.8 percent, Iran 4.5 group has very minute crystals or micro crystals
percent, Burma 8 percent, Assam 10.7 percent. and are of high melting point where generally above
While in one country it is not necessarily the same 145OF and might as high as 200OF.
wax content of crude oil obtained, as in Venezuela
PARAFFIN WAXES
and Mexico that some crude oil contains about 3.5
percent wax and some contain very little wax and A refined mixture of associated solid paraffin
can not even be said to contain waxes on their hydrocarbons of paraffins is commonly designated
crude. as ‘Paraffin wax’ . The word ‘Paraffin’ appears to be
a French derivative of the Latin parum that has
CLASSIFICATION OF PETROLEUM WAX meaning of ‘little’ and affinis means affinity, in other
It’s quiet difficult to draw up the classification words, a chemically inactive substance.
of petroleum waxes that could not to be subject to
Paraffin wax appears in a state of binding to
critism. It might be different in classifying
paraffin – base oil on crude oil. The content of
petroleum waxes with one another of the
raffinates in the form of waxes derived from crude
petroleum refinery processes. Based on American
oil is about 10 percent. In the case, to obtain
refineries, it comprises the various types of waxes
lubricating oil with high quality and quality it is
being produced,
necessary to do a wax recovery from raffinates with
1. Paraffin wax group pour – point depressant so that the wax raffinates
- Softer paraffin waxes obtained are another product that is paraffin wax. It
- Intermediate paraffin waxes does not rule out the possibility that the wax
- Harder paraffins distillate of each region has different API gravity
2. Petrolatums and the wax content itself. In the normal paraffin
3. Microcrystalline wax group series the first compound that is solid at room
- Medium soft temperature (20OC) is the n – heptadecane which
- Medium hard has melting points 72.5OC (22.5OC).
- Hard
1. Softer Paraffin Waxes
 The softer paraffin waxes include slack wax
and sweat wax, the latter a more oily by –
product of the former. In the refinery the
crude oil raffinate known as ‘paraffin
distillate’ (wax distillate) has a boiling point
range of 170-310°F when distilled at a very
low pressure. To separate the paraffin wax
from the oil, the wax distillate may be
chilled until the wax crystallizes, and the
resultant slurry may be filter pressed. If the
wax forms a filter cake from which the oil
drains easily the wax distillate is said to be
‘pressible’. If the oil cannot be separated
well from the wax crystals in the pressing
operation, the wax distillate is ‘unpressible’.
The wax left on the filter presses is called
slack wax. The consistency of slack wax may
be soft or semisolid and the oil content is
normally 10 to 35 per cent.
molded into a hard firm block. The
production of harder paraffin waxes
constitutes by far the greater proportion of
the refinery output of petroleum waxes.
Slack wax which comes from the hydraulic
presses, contains 10 to 15 percent oil, and
this oil as well as the softer waxes must be
removed in order to produce block
paraffines. This is customarily done by
‘sweating’ beyond the stage employed in
producing slack wax, or intermediate
waxes.
Physical Properties of Paraffin Waxes
Density and Solubility of Commercial Parafflnes.
The density of a paraffine increases with an
increase of the melting point, as shown by the
figures given below for the various commercial
paraffines.

Density of Paraffines with Melting

2. Intermediate Paraffin Waxes
Points of
Scale wax or intermediate wax can be At
121 126 131 136
considered a paraffin wax intermediate 141 OF
OF OF OF OF
between softer waxes, such as slack wax,
34 OF 0.906 0.915 0.917 0.922 0.922
and the harder paraffines. It is derived by a
process of sweating the greater part of oil 45 OF 0.903 0.911 0.914 0.919 0.919

from slack wax. Grades of crude scale wax 57 OF 0.897 0.909 0.910 0.914 0.915

which are marketed contain up to 6 per cent 80 OF 0.872 0.897 0.902 0.911 0.905
of oil. Crude scale waxes are obtainable in 100 OF 0.849 0.873 0.877 0.896 0.903
both yellow and white, the yellow usually 150 OF 0.776 0.775 0.780 0.779 0.783
containing less than 4 percent of oil, and the 165 OF 0.769 0.768 0.774 0.772 0.775
white less than 2 percent. They are 185OF 0.762 - 0.766 0.765 0.769
produced in high as well as low melting
points, although their softening points are
The density of paraffin wax generally increases
invariably low.
with increasing molecular mass, but remains below
1.0 g/cm3, which is the density of water. Paraffin
3. Harder Paraffins
waxes are also non – polar therefore, they are
The harder paraffin waxes are referred to as
insoluble in water but are soluble in other non –
paraffins, customarily accompanied by a
polar petroleum based solvents of similar structure.
designation of the melting point, or as fully
Examples of such solvents are benzene, ether, and
refined paraffin waxes. The term block
certain esters.
paraffin is sometimes used to designate a
harder paraffin wax, one which, can be
 Some conclusions on the effect of melting
point, viscosity and temperature on the solubility of
paraffin wax are as follows:
a. Solubility of paraffin wax decreases as
melting point increases
b. Solubility decreases as viscosity increases
c. Solubility increases as temperature
increases
Stability and Reactivity
Paraffin wax stable and non – reactive under
ordinary conditions of use and storage and is
unaffected by most common chemical reagents.
However, it does burn readily if ignited. Paraffins
will also react with halogens under UV, light or heat.
When heated at high temperatures in the absence
of air, paraffin waxes can also crack and break up
into smaller, lighter paraffin molecules.
Paraffin Wax Uses
Paraffin Wax is the structural backbone of
much cosmetic formulation. It can add hardness to
lip care formulation and increase the viscosity of
emulsion products. Paraffin wax is a by product of
mineral oil manufacturing. Molecular weight
distribution ranges from C18 to C60 but the useable
range for cosmetics is about C22 to C45. Within that
range there are a variety of melting point products.
Since most paraffins contain straight chain and
some branched chain molecules the physical
characteristics can vary depending on the method
of manufacture. Paraffin wax is a distilled product
so the molecular species with the same boiling
point will distill at the same time. So it is possible to
have straight chain and branched chain (isomers)
distilling at the same time. It is this molecular
weight distribution which gives the different
physical characteristics of each paraffin wax.
In cosmetics the use of paraffin wax imparts
structure to the formulation. That structure
generally leads to a rigid, brittle product which then
needs to be modified with oils and other waxes. The
single largest use of paraffin wax in cosmetics is in
color cosmetics lip sticks, lip balms, mascara, eye
shadow and eye liners.

References:
Boroughs et al. 1972. Method of Separation of Wax From Oil. US Patent no. 3,670,888

Jones, et al. 1991. Fractionation Process for Petroleum Wax. US Patent no. 5,032,249

Warth, Albin H. 1956. The Chemistry and Technology of Waxes. Reinhold Publishing Corporation: New York