Carnauba Wax

Carnauba is a very hard wax extracted from the leaves of Carnauba Palm trees of Brazil – Copernicia prunifera (synonym: Copernicia cerifera), a plant native to and grown only in the northeastern Brazil commonky used as a food grade wax. It is practically insoluble even in hot water, so even washing our food doesn’t remove it.

There are serious concerns about the working conditions in the forest communities where the leaves are harvested by hand, naturally dried to obtain the wax, and in processing factories, as well as the harvesting practise effects on biodiversity. There are efforts to improve these but in remote areas this can be more superficial gesturing than effective.

(From Wikipedia) the Queen of Waxes – In its pure state, it is usually available in the form of hard yellow-brown flakes. It is obtained by collecting and drying the leaves, beating them to loosen the wax, then refining and bleaching it.

As a food additive, its E number is E903.

Whilst it is a natural product, the processes to make it most useful to us, are toxic and fossil fuel dependent 

https://autogeekonline.net/threads/white-carnauba-wax.12062 .

It is sold in grades of T1, T3 and T4 according to its purity level, which is accomplished by filtration, centrifugation and bleaching.

(wikipedia) As it creates a glossy finish, carnauba wax is used in automobile waxes, shoe polishes, dental floss, food products (such as sweets – think of the sheen on MnMs), polishes for musical instruments, and floor and furniture waxes and polishes. It is commonly used for paper coatings in the United States.[7] It is also used in some surfboard waxes.[citation needed]

Due to its hypoallergenic and emollient properties as well as its gloss, carnauba wax is used as a thickener in cosmetics such as lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, foundation, deodorant, and skincare and sun care preparations.[citation needed]

It is also used to make cutler’s resin for attaching handles to bladed tools and weapons.

It is the finish of choice for most briar tobacco smoking pipes.[citation needed]

As it is too brittle to be used alone, carnauba wax is often combined with other waxes (principally beeswax) to treat and waterproof leather products, where it provides a high-gloss finish and increases leather’s hardness and durability.

It is also used in the pharmaceutical industry as a coating to make tablets easier to swallow. A very small amount (less than 1/100 of 1% by weight, e.g. 30 grams per 300 kg) is sprinkled onto a batch of sprayed and dried tablets then tumbled for a few minutes to coat them. [citation needed]

In 1890 carnauba wax was patented as a replacement for the standard paraffin/beeswax mixture used in phonograph cylinders.

Carnauba wax may be used as a mold release agent for manufacturing fibre-reinforced plastics. An aerosol form is made by dissolving it in a solvent. Unlike silicone or PTFE, carnauba is suitable for use with liquid epoxy, epoxy molding compounds (EMC), and some other plastic types. It is not very soluble in chlorinated or aromatic hydrocarbons.[8]

It is used in melt/castable explosives to produce an insensitive explosive formula such as Composition B, which is a blend of RDX and TNT.