Mike S asked about sterilizing beeswax via a pressure cooker.
 
I know we've talked about the temperature resistance of AFB spores before but I can't find my references right now so I'll start with the New Zealand recommendation of paraffin dipping for woodenware which requires a temperature of 160 C for 10 min and notes that "Even at this temperature there may still be the occasional AFB spore that survives" though presumably below infestation levels.
 
A 15 lb pressure cooker will generally raise the boiling point to 122 C or so (depending on your starting elevation), well below the 160 C needed even to match the effectiveness of paraffin dipping and far below the level needed for complete sterilization.
 
You could increase the pressure with a commercial containment vessel perhaps, but I would worry about approaching the flashpoint of beeswax, 204 C.  Granted, the water vapor should displace the oxygen and granted that beeswax does not autocombust but you could be setting up a very dangerous situation if there is a breach to the containment vessel.
 
The last time we talked about it, though, the consensus seemed to be that just melting the beeswax should entomb the spores to the point that the occasional spore ingested during reworking of wax would probably be below the infestation level.

Mike Rossander
www.rossander.org/infosec


      

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