PETROLEUM WAXES
Petroleum waxes are produced from the refining process of lubricating oil. During
this process, separation of waxy oily fractions are obtained through a de-waxing
process and this mass is known as slack wax. Further refining is required to
de-oil the slack wax resulting in fully refined paraffin waxes and microcrystalline
waxes.
Some of the petroleum waxes are:
SYNTHETIC AND VEGETABLE WAXES There are other types of waxes produced from vegetable sources, as well as synthetic waxes that are used to modified and improve performance of petroleum waxes as straight products or in special blends.
Some of those vegetable waxes are derived from Soya, Palm, etc… and are refined by extracting their oil and processing them through hydrogenation. In the case of synthetic waxes, some of them are by-products of the production of synthetic resins, such as polyethylene.
Some of these waxes include: