10 
COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION 
that from the steam extractors. The wax formed by pressure under 
water was nearly as good in color as the wax from the solar extractors. 
The wax obtained by pressure under water containing five per cent, of 
sulphuric acid was very good in color, in fact, almost as good (with 
combs number two and three) as most of the wax obtained from the 
solar extractors. 
I believe the color of the wax from the steam extractors to be due 
to the presence of iron, owing to the metal in the extractor coming in 
contact with the steam. The wax from the Ferris and Root extractors 
was tested and showed the presence of small quantities of iron; enough 
perhaps .to account for the color. The wax from the solar extractors did 
not show the presence of any iron. 
Bleaching Wax. In a search for a method for bleaching beeswax I 
found many compounds which would effectually bleach the wax, but 
most of them either destroyed the wax or were in themselves poisonous. 
Chlorine, which is a great bleaching agent, cannot be used on account 
of its forming, according to Allen, chlorination substitution—products 
which may give rise to hydrochloric acid. Beeswax can be volatilized 
almost without change in a vacuum but when distilled under ordinary 
pressure it yields a variety of products. Therefore this method cannot 
be used in purifying beeswax. 
The principal use of beeswax is in the manufacture of comb founda¬ 
tion which is given to the bees to act as a foundation on which to build 
their comb. In order to get nice, white honey the foundation must be 
light colored. The following experiments were made to determine the 
best method for cleaning and bleaching wax. 
Acids Used in Bleaching. The beeswax on which this experiment 
was made was a sample of wax that had been rendered from dark colored 
comb. It was heated in water so as to get a uniform cake, which was 
cut into eight equal pieces and one piece taken for each test. 
Piece number one was heated with 2 cc. of sulfuric acid and 200 cc. of 
water. Piece number two was heated with 2 cc. of hydrochloric acid and 
200 cc. of water. Piece number three was heated with 2 cc. of nitric acid 
and 200 cc. of water. Piece number four was heated with 200 cc. of water. 
Piece number five was heated with 200 cc. of water and 2 cc. of a solution 
containing 60 cc. of sulfuric acid and 63 grams of potassium bichromate to 
1000 cc. of water. Piece number six was heated with 200 cc. of water and 
5 grams of sodium chloride or common salt. Piece number seven was 
heated with 100 cc. of the solution of sulfuric acid and potassium bichromate 
which was used with number five, mixed with 200 cc. of water. They were 
all cooled in the air and stood over water while cooling. Number one gave 
the best results and the wax was lighter colored than any of the others. 
Numbers two, three, fiye and six did not show much improvement over num¬ 
ber four which was used as a blank for comparison. Number seven gave a 
very dark green wax. 
This would go to show that as far as bleaching and removing the 
coloring matter, the sulphuric acid gives the best results of the materials 
used. 
Sulphuric Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide. For this experiment a 
sample of dark wax which had been obtained from brood comb was used. 
