An In-depth analysis and comparison of eco and non-eco surfboard waxes

Questions regarding the sustainability of petroleum-based surfboard waxes gave rise to the development and marketing of a sustainable alternative called “Eco” surf wax. The chemistry behind surf waxes is generally unknown and there is no published research on the area of surf waxes. In this analysis, the chemical properties of both types of waxes were investigated, to determine the difference between non-eco and eco waxes and between different water temperature rating waxes. 15 surf wax samples (10 non-eco, 5 eco) were extracted into organic and inorganic fractions and analysed by FT-IR, GC-MS, and HTGC-FID/MS. Multivariate statistical analysis was also performed. Non-eco samples contained 61 – 106 % of organic content and 0 – 41 % whereas eco-samples contained 53 – 87 % of organic and 9 – 50% of inorganic. The inorganic content was determined to be CaCO3 by FT-IR. The organic content of all non-eco samples was clearly identified to be paraffin in the C17-64 range by GC and by comparison to a paraffin standard. The major difference that was determined between chromatograms of non-eco samples was the carbon range. The organic content of the eco waxes were identified to be a mixture of C22-34 paraffins, C40-48 wax esters and C37-45 glycerides, and was identified to be beeswax by comparison to standards and literature. Most of the variation between samples was found to be between manufacturers and not between the different water temperature rating samples. This project concluded that manufacturers blend their wax with n-alkanes in the C20-34 to alter its physical properties to create softer (cold-rated) or harder (tropical-rated) waxes. To further this project, it would be interesting to test the physical properties of the waxes such as melting point, wettability, fraction coefficient and crystallinity, to test how the chemical differences affect the performance of the wax.