Sticklac

The lac insect, laccifer lacca (kerr), like other scale insects of the super-family coccoidea, is naturally parastic on certain trees and shrubs. In the larval stage it is about 0.5 mm in length, and sufficiently mobile to crawl along the branches of trees to find fress succulent twigs. When it has fixed its position and inserted its proboscis into the trees, it secretes a protective coating consisting of a dark-red chitinous scale similar to cochinea, and a yellow to reddish resin called lac. The life-cycle is about 6 months. Most of the resin is secreted by the female insects.

Seedlac

Removing the sticks, stones etc. As far as possible by crushing, sieving and winnowing, and washing out the dye with water yields the semi-refined product known as seedlac, from its general appearance, in the form of grain of 10 mesh or smaller, and yellow or reddish brown in colour depending on the host tree and the destrict from which the sticklac has been collected. Adhering impurities on these grains of seedlac amount to 3-8 percent, averaging 5%.
 
The following categories of seedlac is manufactured / commercially used :

1. Ordinary / Genuine Bysacky Seedlac
2. Fine Bysacky Seedlac
3. Golden Bysacky Seedlac
4. Golden Kumsi Seedlac

Shellac

The shellac is the name of the finished product and is commercially used across the world. It is broadly divided and manufactured in four categories Viz. Handmade shellac, heat process shellac, solvent process shellac, and dewaxed bleached shellac.

Handmade Shellac

Seedlac are filled into long sausage-shaped cloth bags about 2" diameter and 30' long. This long bag is passed gradually in front of a charcoal fired hearth hot enough to melt the lac and by twisting the bag the molten lac is squeezed out through the cloth and stretched with the help of a glazed ceramic cylinder.

By handmade process following types of shellac is produced / used / exported :

1. Handmade Lemon One Shellac
2. Handmade Lemon Two Shellac
3. Handmade Standard One Shellac

Heat process Shellac

In this process of manufacturing of shellac, the seedlac is melted by steam heat through filter by cloth with the hydraulic pressure. The molten lac is then stretched by means of roller into long and continuous sheets which is broken into pieces to form the machinemade shellac under heat process.
 
Machinemade shellac is also divided following sub-categories :

1. Machinemade Lextn Shellac
2. Machinemade Orange Shellac
3. Machinemade Lemon One Shellac
4. Machinemade Lemon Two Shellac
5. Machinemade Standard One Shellac
6. Machinemade Blacktn Shellac

Solvent processes

Seedlac is dissolved in a refrigerated alcohol and filter through filter press to remove wax and impurity. The colour may be removed to any required standard by charging the activated carbon and then alcohol is recovered and molten shellac is stretched on a roller.

The following categories of dewaxed shellac is manufactured with the help of solvent process :

1. Dewaxed Platina
2. Dewaxed Super Blonde
3. Dewaxed Blonde
4. Dewaxed Lunar
5. Dewaxed Lemon
6. Dewaxed Orange
7. Dewaxed Garnet

Bleached Shellac

The basic procedure in the bleached process consists in dissolving in aqueous sodium carbonate solution at 90-100 degree celcius, stirring off the solution with sodium hydrochloride and the start filtering after cooling down the temperature of solution. The bleached shellac is reclaimed from the filtered solution with sulphuric acid. The precipitated bleached shellac is ten filtered and washed from water for removal of acid and dried.

Bleached shellac is manufactured / exported in following two grades :

1. Dewaxed Bleached Shellac
2. Waxy Bleached Shellac

Aleuritic Acid (Shellac Aleuritic Powder)
 
Aleuritic Acid (9, 10, 16-trihydroxypalmitic acid), obtained from shellac by saponification, is a unique acid containing three hydroxyl groups of which two are of adjacent carbon atoms.

1. Aleuritic Acid