Sugar Cane ‘Mud’

A Limited Field

The Wax That Comes From Sugar Cane ‘Mud’

IF a statement made recently by Mr. D. A. Low, a Queensland MLA, ever reached Fiji, it must have caused some interest in that

sugar-producing Colony.

Mr. Low said that the extraction of wax from sugar-cane could quickly develop into a £1 million per year project, if all sugar-mills in the State of Queensland engaged in it. At present, he said, only the Moreton Central sugar-mill at Nam bour was extracting the wax from the “mud,” and only comparatively few extraction plants were in opera tion throughout the world.

The Moreton Central mill, said Mr. Low, employed four men on its wax extraction plant. The mill was producing a ton of top-grade bleached wax per month, worth £5OO. Crude wax was worth £4OO per ton. It was marketed in Bris bane and Melbourne and used in polishes, carbon paper, greases, and for impregnating certain rope.

To discover why this valuable commodity was not being produced elsewhere in Queensland and Fiji, and to check on the market potential, PIM made some inquiries from the Colonial Sugar Refining Co.; from a Sydney firm which im

ports this and similar waxes; and from the CSIRO’s Division of In dustrial Chemistry in Melbourne; and elicited the following infor mation.

SUGAR-CANE wax is not a re cent discovery. Possibilities of its extraction from sugar cane “mud” (mulched waste remaining after extraction of the sugar) were

known prior to World War 11. B\ the cane-wax has to compete wit the well-established wax extract* from the carnauba palm nut < Brazil. Carnauba wax is current quoted on the London market : two grades—prime yellow, £Stg.9( per ton, and fatty grey, £Stg. 5' per ton.

Brazil, however, is a hard-curren< country, and this factor would i

present favour a soft-currency source of wax. CSIRO estimates that if sugar-cane wax were to com pletely replace carnauba imports, about 300 tons of mainly refined wax could be absorbed in Australia per annum, at the present time.

But consumption and price are no doubt linked. If sugar-cane wax could compete satisfactorily and could be sold at a substantially lower price, the consumption might rise sharply. CSIRO says that a ton of crude sugar-cane wax will produce about half a ton of refined wax.

CSIRO thinks there is little prospect of developing a hard currency export business. America is importing crude cane-wax from Cuba at the rate of about 550 tons per annum, and refining it in the States. r HOUGH Australian consumers prefer canauba wax at present, CSIRO says they have so far lad little incentive to use cane wax.

Australia’s carnauba supplies can be mported from England with Stori ng funds, so there would be no lollar savings. Presumably, Eng and receives carnauba wax sup plies from Brazil on a trade-exchange )asis.