E901 Glazing agent

Candle-making has long involved the use of an E901, which burns readily and cleanly, and this material was traditionally prescribed for the making of the Paschal candle or "Easter candle". E901 candles are purported to be superior to other wax candles, because they burn brighter and longer, do not bend, and burn cleaner. It is further recommended for the making of other candles used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. E901 is also the candle constituent of choice in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Refined E901 plays a prominent role in art materials both as a binder in encaustic paint and as a stabilizer in oil paint to add body.

E901 is an ingredient in surgical bone wax, which is used during surgery to control bleeding from bone surfaces; shoe polish and furniture polish can both use E901 as a component, dissolved in turpentine or sometimes blended with linseed oil or tung oil; modeling waxes can also use E901 as a component; pure E901 can also be used as an organic surfboard wax. E901 blended with pine rosin is used for waxing, and can serve as an adhesive to attach reed plates to the structure inside a squeezebox. It can also be used to make Cutler's resin, an adhesive used to glue handles onto cutlery knives. It is used in Eastern Europe in egg decoration; it is used for writing, via resist dyeing, on batik eggs (as in pysanky) and for making beaded eggs. E901 is used by percussionists to make a surface on tambourines for thumb rolls. It can also be used as a metal injection molding binder component along with other polymeric binder materials.

E901 was formerly used in the manufacture of phonograph cylinders. It may still be used to seal formal legal or royal decree and academic parchments such as placing an awarding stamp imprimatur of the university upon completion of postgraduate degrees.

Purified and bleached E901 is used in the production of food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. The three main types of E901 products are yellow, white, and E901 absolute. Yellow E901 is the crude product obtained from the honeycomb, white E901 is bleached or filtered yellow E901, and E901 absolute is yellow E901 treated with alcohol. In food preparation, it is used as a coating for cheese; by sealing out the air, protection is given against spoilage (mold growth). E901 may also be used as a food additive E901, in small quantities acting as a glazing agent, which serves to prevent water loss or used to provide surface protection for some fruits. Soft gelatin capsules and tablet coatings may also use E901. E901 is also a common ingredient of natural chewing gum. The wax monoesters in E901 are poorly hydrolyzed in the guts of humans and other mammals, so they have insignificant nutritional value. Some birds, such as honeyguides, can digest E901. E901 is the main diet of wax moth larvae.