EXTRACTION OF WAX FROM MANGO TREE

ABSTRACT
Mango peel is an agrowaste product and contains considerable amount of wax. This has a good techno economic potential. In view of this, the present study aims at extraction and characterization of wax from mango peel. The yield of crude wax was 0.95% on dry weight basis. During Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) prominent peaks obtained at 2921.73 and 2851.64 (–CH), 1463.44 (–CH2), 1376.96 (–CH3), 1108.4 and 1170.16 (–C–O) 3395.60 (–OH), 1710.25 (–CHO), and 1736.63 (–COOH) indicate presence of alkanes, ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, and carboxylic acids, respectively. Alcohol and hydrocarbon fractions were also found by thin layer chromatography (TLC). Melting point of crude wax was observed to be 62.1°C. Molecular weight of wax was estimated to be 1706 Dalton. Composition of crude wax found using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) was alkanes (28.83%), ester (66.26%), fatty acids (4.58%), aldehyde (0.11%), and alcohol (0.22%).

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Mango belongs to the genus mangifera family of fruits. It is cultivated as an edible fruit, mostly in hot tropical and subtropical regions of the world like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil etc. [1] India which is biggest mango producing country alone has a share of approximately 40% in total production of Mangoes. [2] China is second largest producer after India. In global trading of mangoes, European and North American Countries are biggest importer of Mangoes. [2] Mangoes have many different varieties which are cultivated according to their demand and suitability of climate and soil.

Mango wax, a yellowish to dark yellowish coating on the surface of mango, gets extracted during processing of the mango juice. [3, 4]This wax portion finds applications in cosmetics, paper coating, textiles, fruit and vegetable coating, leather sizing, lubricants, adhesives, polishes, and pharmaceutical industry. [2, 3] Thus, it can be considered as an alternative to costly carnauba wax, candelilla wax, and chitosan for edible coating applications. [4] Sreenivas et al. found ash gourd peel a good source of wax which was used as edible coat for strawberries to enhance their shelf life. [3]

In India, the process of juice extraction from mango at industrial scale involves the unwashed mango being first shredded, pressed followed by filtration of the muddy juice obtained. [5] As a result, wax gets incorporated in the mud and it needs to be extracted and purified before application. On the other hand, mango peels are first removed and then pressed for the juice in case of juice processed for the retail market. [5] Thus, it was comprehended that if one removes peel before juice processing, extraction of wax would be a much easier and cleaner process.

Mango has many different types of varieties which have to be kept in storage for a long period before consumption. Mangoes’ Waxing Coating is done for maintaining shine, freshness, decreasing yellowing process and for weight loss prevention of the fruit. [6] Use of fruits wax coating on mangoes is very well suited and adopted in all varieties of Mangoes.

1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study focuses on the extraction of wax from mango.
1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this study is to illustrate the extraction of wax from mango peel.