Jagdamba Lac Factory

Khunti, Jharkhand

The lac thus cleaned is spread on large, clean, open air floor to dry. After drying, it is winnowed and sieved to get the commercial variety of Seedlac. Seedlac is mostly used for conversion into Bleached Shellac and different types of Shellac.

Shellac is a natural gum resin, a natures gift to the mankind and is used in over 100 industries and is only produced in india, thailand and china and is exported to over 100 countries of the world. It is natural, non toxic & edible resin.

Seedlac is dissolved in an aqueous-alkali solution, filltered, dewaxed and bleached with sodium hypochlorite to the desired color.the shellac is then precipitated from the solution with sulphuric acid and dried.

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. Aleuritic acid is moderately soluble in hot water and crystallises out on cooling the solution. It is soluble in the lower alcohols such as methyl, ethyl and isopropyl alcohols. Technical grade aleuritic acid (purity 99%) a slight yellow and almost odourless solid, is now manufactured by us. There is a continuous growing demand of aleuritic acid in the fields of perfumery and pharmaceuticals due to it being an excellent starting material for the synthesis of civetone, ambrettolide, isoambrettolide etc, which have the musk like odour.