Montan wax is a mineral wax containing wax, resin, and asphalt, also known as montan wax.
It is a mixture of wax, resin, and asphalt obtained by extracting waxy coal (mainly lignite or some peat) with solvents (benzene, gasoline, etc.).
Montan wax is generally dark brown, with a melting point of 7586℃ and a density (20℃) of 0.981.03g/cm³.
It has good physical and chemical properties, such as moisture resistance, good chemical stability, high mechanical strength, a mirror-like surface, and low conductivity.
Montan wax is characterized by high melting point, hard and brittle texture, solubility in a variety of organic solvents, easy saponification and emulsification, good oil absorption, color absorption, electrical insulation, chemical stability, and miscibility with paraffin and resin.
There are two major varieties of montan wax, namely ordinary montan wax and light montan wax.
Ordinary lignite wax: mainly composed of C20-C35 wax acids, wax alcohols, and their esters, as well as a small amount of terpenes, resin acids, asphalt, etc. It is a brown-black solid, non-toxic, odorless, high melting point, and good gloss.
Light-colored lignite wax: refers to the refined lignite wax that is made into a long-chain linear saturated carboxylic acid sodium salt after saponification, which is an excellent nucleating agent.
Crude wax contains dark resins and asphalt substances, which will affect the wide application of wax. Therefore, it is necessary to refine the crude wax to remove harmful resins and dark asphalt substances, produce acid wax (S wax), and then undergo acidification or partial esterification and saponification treatment to produce a series of light-colored hard wax lignite wax.
The application field of lignite wax is very wide, including but not limited to the following aspects:

Daily chemical industry: used as a raw material for special-effect cosmetics, such as lipstick, cream, hair spray, etc.
Precision casting industry: as a medium and high-temperature wax mold to improve the precision and finish of castings.
Rubber, plastic, textile industry: used as a lubricant, especially PVC engineering plastics as a lubricant for molding and anti-adhesion.
Papermaking industry: used as sizing agent.
Electrical industry: wires, cables, etc. are used as insulating materials for waterproofing, anti-corrosion, anti-sticking, anti-aging, etc.
Printing industry: high-speed printing ink, carbon paper, typing wax paper, etc. are used as coatings, which are not easy to crack, and the handwriting does not spread and penetrate.
Packaging industry, hot melt adhesive industry, and candle industry: used as raw materials or additives.
Others: used in drilling, road surface maintenance, reservoir plugging, mine dust removal, etc.; used as high-quality polish wax for automobiles, furniture, floors, bicycles, precision instruments, etc.; used as a brightener in the shoe polish industry.
Lignite wax is an important chemical raw material and additive, which is widely used in many fields. However, due to its resource scarcity and growing market demand, the production and supply of lignite wax face certain challenges.