LAC INDUSTRY
We made our science project on pearl culture and we completed our project on 22 feb 2015 .We all gathered at Yash Shirole's house at 11:00 am on sunday .In our group there are 9 members .Our leader was Shreya Kate .We made 2 charts .We found information and pictures on google on wikipedia .We enjoyed a lot creating our project .I thank all my group members for the help an coordination .Our science teacher mrs. Damle ma'am told us about the group project and to create a blog ,this activity was to be individualy done. We enjoyed doing our project so i thank my science teacher for giving us this intresting project.
here is some information and pictures about lac industry
Lac is the scarlet resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated species is Kerria lacca.
Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick (broodlac) that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infested.[1] Thousands of lac insects colonize the branches of the host trees and secrete the resinous pigment. The coated branches of the host trees are cut and harvested as sticklac.
The harvested sticklac is crushed and sieved to remove impurities. The sieved material is then repeatedly washed to remove insect parts and other soluble material. The resulting product is known as seedlac. The prefix seed refers to its pellet shape. Seedlac which still contains 3-5% impurities is processed into shellac by heat treatment orsolvent extraction.
The leading producer of Lac is Jharkhand, followed by the Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Maharashtra states of India. Lac production is also found in Bangladesh, Myanmar,Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, parts of China, and Mexico.
Harvesting
Lac is harvested by cutting the tree branches that hold sticklac. If dye is being produced, the insects are kept in the sticklac because the dye color comes from the insects rather than their resin. They may be killed by exposure to the sun.
On the other hand, if seedlac or shellac is being produced, most insects can escape because less colored pale lac is generally more desired.
Production levels
India exported significant amounts of sticklac derivatives, especially lac dye, from the 1700s to the late 1800s. Production declined as synthetic dyes emerged, and after the late 1940s, production of seedlac and shellac also declined due to replacement.
In the mid-1950s, India annually produced about 50,000 tons of sticklac and exported about 29,000 tons of lac; by the late 1980s the figures were about 12,000 tons and 7,000 tons, respectively. By 1992-93, India's lac exports fell further to 4,500 tons. In the same period, Thailand's production increased somewhat, with annual lac exports of around 7,000 tons in the 1990s, mainly of seedlac. China exported only about 500 tons of shellac per year in the 1990s but produced more lac internally: 4,000-5,000 tons of sticklac and 2,000-3,000 tons of shellac in Yunnan province, with additional, smaller production in Fujian province. While India, Thailand, and China are the major lac producers, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka also play small roles.
Uses
The use of lac dye goes back to ancient times. It has been used in India as a skin cosmetic and dye for wool and silk.In China it is a traditional dye for leather goods. Lac for dye has been somewhat replaced by the emergence of synthetic dyes, though it remains in use, and some juices, carbonated drinks, wine, jam, sauce, and candy are colored using it.
Lac is used in folk medicine as a hepatoprotective and anti-obesity drug. It is used in violin and other varnish and is soluble in alcohol. This type of lac was used in the finishing of 18th-century fowling guns in the United States. the lac is highly inflammable as mentioned in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata.
AT the present time India holds what is virtually a monopoly of lac production, and no satisfactory substitute has yet appeared on the world’s markets. This monopoly cannot, however, be regarded as a sinecure; other countries are likely to be found suitable for lac cultivation, and the present high value of lac and its importance to many Western industries render it urgent that the production of this substance should be encouraged along improved scientific and economic lines. The propagation of lac is still very carelessly carried out, and its methods of collection need much improvement. The crop varies from year to year, prices fluctuate seasonally, and there is much injurious market speculation. The bulk of the world’s lac comes from Chota Nagpur, Orissa, the north-eastern half of the Central Provinces, some western districts of Bengal, and from part of the Mirzapur district of the United Provinces. Out of the ninety or more trees which have been recorded as hosts for the lac insect (Tachardia lacca), the most important include Schleicheria trijuga, Butea frondosa, Zizyphus jujuba and xylopyrus, together with species of Acacia, Ficus, etc. These plants contain much gummy or resinous matter or are rich in latex.
THIS IS FOR THE GROUP
