MALAYSIAN VARSITY SCIENTIST DEVELOPS PALM OIL WAX ESTER FOR PRINTER INK

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 (Bernama) --– With the massive worldwide use of
computers and printers, demand for wax ester, which is used for making toners,
the ink in the printers, is on the rise.

Most of the wax ester currently used for making toners comes from the wax
honeycombs of bees, which means that they are not only limited but also
expensive.

But if a Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) scientist can have his way, he
can perhaps give these bees a respite from their hard labour by mass-producing
the special wax ester from palm oil, says UKM News Portal, a web publication by
the university's corporate communications centre.

Prof Dr Mohd Ambar Yarmo of UKM's School of Chemical Sciences and Food
Technology has been researching on the use of oleic acid derived from palm oil,
particularly as a bio-lubricant when he discovered the special wax ester.

A specialist in chemical catalysis, surface sciences and analytical
chemistry, he was looking for more industrial uses of palm oil when one of the
results was special wax ester. The other uses of this wax ester include car and
other polishes.


"Converting fatty alcohol to wax ester is not something new but when it can
be done with palm oil in a simple and cheap process, there is a new commercial
possibility," he said.

Prof Ambar, who had graduated with a B.Sc (Hons) from UKM in 1979 and his
Ph.D (Wales) in 1983, is a professor of Chemistry in UKM’s Faculty of Science
and Technology since 2006. He is also head of its Oleochemical Programme.

He said what he and his team of researchers had done was to obtain fatty
alcohol from palm oil, which they then converted into special wax ester with
ordinary chemicals without using any expensive machinery.

"This means that special wax ester can be commercially produced and if the
palm oil-based wax ester can be used in toners, it would definitely bring the
prices of toners down,” he added.

Prof Ambar is now awaiting the patent to come through before discussing with
private enterprises to produce special wax ester for toners.

National University of Malaysia (Malay: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) is
a public university located in Bangi, Selangor which is about 35 km south of
Kuala Lumpur.


-- BERNAMA