Physical behavior of purified and crude wax obtained from Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seed oil refineries and seed hulls

The sunflower seed waxes obtained from two sources (i) seed hull as astandard and (ii) crude wax from oil refineries were studied for theircrystallization, melting characteristics and morphology of crystals. Theresults of differential scanning calorimetry of wax obtained from seed hullsshowed the melting temperature range of 13.18 ^°C with the onsetat 62.32 ^°C, for purified wax, compared to the melting range of24.73 ^°C with the onset at 42.3 ^°C, for crude wax. Theenthalpy of fusion for both waxes were 57.55 mcal/mg and 7.63 mcal/mg,respectively. The DSC melt crystallization temperature range was15.79 ^°C with the onset of 64.58 ^°C for purified wax andtemperature range of 31.45 ^°C with an onset of 57.76 ^°C forcrude wax. A similar pattern was observed of wax obtained from thecrude wax of oil refineries. The enthalpy of crystallization was –64.27mcal/mg and –7.67 mcal/mg, respectively. The purified wax obtained fromthe two sources (i) and (ii) were comparable with completion temperaturesof 75.5 ^°C and 75.1 ^°C, respectively. The effect of inhibitor(lecithin) on crystallization of purified wax under light microscope andsurface structure by scanning electron microscope were observed. Lecithinat 0.2% inhibited the crystallization but nucleation was unaltered. Thewax crystal was inhibited to around 60% of the original size with 0.2%lecithin. It is concluded that the sunflower waxes studied were notcomparable in their crystal properties of crude and purified states.Lecithin inhibited the crystallization of sunflower seed wax.