Origin

• Carnauba is refined from the waxy leaves of the Copernicia prunifera (or cerifera) plant, a palm tree that grows only in the Piaui, Ceara and Rio Grandedo Norte states of northern Brazil.
  
  

Composition

• About 90 percent of carnauba wax is composed of fatty acids and alcohols, the rest being other acid types and hydrocarbons.
  
  

Uses

• Carnauba wax is used to impart a deep and lustrous shine to automobile bodies, shoes, food products (in particular chewing gum and confections), wooden floors and furniture.
  
  

Additives

• Carnauba wax is often combined with beeswax for use in shoe and wood polishes, and can be thinned with turpentine. Some high-end carnauba waxes are mixed with sun-blockers to protect automobile paint from fade-inducing UV radiation.
  
  

Melting Point

• Carnauba wax melts at between 150 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit in its natural form. This quality makes for ease and versatility of manufacture of carnauba products, but is perilously close to the surface temperature of a dark car in the sun.