Ozokerite

Ozokerite, also known as mineral wax, mineral wax or Bergtalg is its chemical composition, as well as petroleum and paraffin, a mixture of different hydrocarbons.

Ozokerite is average of 15 % hydrogen and 85 % carbon, having a density of about 0.94 to 0.96 g / cm ³ and melts at 58-98 ° C, seldom at higher temperatures. Variants are the one Kenderbal with a melting point of 58 to 60 ° C and the other is the very similar but different in consistency from Neftgil Swätoi - Ostrow.

Degradation and varieties

Ozokerite is mined from close lying on the surface and deeper layers, the high pressure part seams. Larger deposits are located in Boryslaw and Dzwieniasz in Eastern Galicia; more in Gaming, Lower Austria, West Galicia, Hungary, Croatia, Wallachia and Moldavia, at Newcastle in England, Swätoi Ostrov as well as on the island Tscheleken in the Caspian Sea, in Transcaucasia, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Canada and Mexico.

In Galicia, the degradation of ozokerite done manually and is only one of the mines ( at a depth of 200 and a width of 225 meters ) for transport and ventilation assisted by mechanical machines. In degradation processes in which herkörmliche shafts are used, ozokerite is obtained by means of drills and then sorted by hand. In rare cases where the purification of ozokerite is not possible, the mixture is heated in large specially constructed tanks, until the ozokerite rises to the surface and is thus separated from the rock. For a final purification ozokerite is reheated and poured into cone shape in which it comes to the market. Raw, unprocessed ozokerite is cleaned, inter alia, with sulfuric acid and finally with charcoal.

After the extraction methods are designated as its raw stages wax, wash wax, Klaubwachs and after a purification step as melting wax.

On the market there distinguished the following types:

• Obtained by refining virgin ozokerite is called ceresin (also ceresin ).
• As Kenderbal one called a blended with oil and earth product of greasy consistency.
• Lep is a tone which is impregnated with ozokerite.

There were and are for ozokerite versatile usage examples, such as the wax candle production, as furniture polish for shoe and leather cream in the cobbler, as cable wax, for impregnating and in the electroforming, formerly in large quantities for the production of petroleum jelly.

Use in medicine

Ozokerit is a valuable product for medical goals. The use in the medical context is mainly in physiotherapy - ozokerite therapy. Thanks to its high melting point and low heat conduction ozokerite is widely used in medical objectives of the rehabilitation of flammable disease, dystrophic disorders of the locomotor apparatus ( arthritis, arthrosis, osteochondrosis, myositis, traumatic disorders ) and disability in the nervous system ( neuritis, radiculitis ). Ozokeritische treatments are considered one of the most common methods of thermal therapy in medical treatment (rehabilitation centers, clinics, sanatoriums ) in Ukraine and other CIS countries, as this is against the paraffin therapy preferred.