If there's one thing we love at Branru Farm, it is creating wonderful products our customers adore while still staying as eco-friendly as possible. That's why we love making items like our orange zest wax melts and green apple candles. We make them using soy wax, which is a great natural and cleaner burning alternative to paraffin. How is soy wax produced? Well, let's take a look at the process.
It All Starts With a Soybean
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States is the leading soybean producer. The crop is a versatile one because soybean byproducts have both industrial uses and uses as food products. Soybean oil is often extracted from the beans and can be processed in multiple ways. One of the options is turning it into wax, such as the wax used to make our cinnamon stick candles.
How Soybeans Are Harvested
You can't make soy wax until the soybeans are harvested. Machines called harvesters are used to collect them and separate them from their pods. After harvesting, they are sorted and cleaned. That process removes any excess debris from the harvested beans. It also helps separate out beans that are damaged.
Extracting Soybean Oil
Before candle-making ever takes place, soybean oil must be extracted from the beans. The beans are cracked open, and then they are rolled to create flakes. The next step is applying a solvent to dissolve the oil. Usually, the solvent used is one called hexane. After solvent is applied, a mixture is created. The mixture is then processed in such a way that the crude soybean oil is separated from the solvent. The solvent is then recycled. The soybean oil moves on to the next part of the process.
Creating Candle Wax from Soybean Oil
Soy wax candles and wax melts are not made from the soybean oil itself. It must be converted to wax, first. That is done by adding hydrogen to the oil, as well as using heat and pressure. It is known as hydrogenation, and it creates a chemical reaction. That's when the liquid oil turns into a solid and develops a waxy consistency almost right for making candles.
The Next Steps for Creating Soy Wax for Making Candles
Becoming a solid is not the end of the process. There are some more steps required before the wax can be used for candle-making.
Here they are:
Refinement is used to remove impurities from the wax.
The wax is often bleached to make it white, which provides a good starting point before making soy candles, since candle wax is often dyed various colors.
The soy wax goes through a formulation (adjustment) process to tailor it for a certain purpose. Other waxes or additives may be mixed in at that stage to influence hardness, melting points, and other factors. Pellets or flakes are made from the wax once it cools.
The wax is packaged for distribution to candle makers.
An important thing to note about forming the wax for soy candles into pellets or flakes is that doing so makes measurement easier. It is vital for candle makers to be able to measure wax properly. Separating the wax into uniform pellets of a specific shape or size also helps it melt properly during the candle-making process.
Making the Soy Wax Candles
This is the point at which we can use the wax to make products like our strawberry kiwi candles and honeysuckle wax melts. To do so, we have to melt the wax and dye it the preferred color to match whatever scent we are using. Then we infuse it with fragrance oils and pour it into molds with wicks. Once it hardens, we have beautiful scented products ready to sell to customers like you.
Candle-making is a bit of an art, and it requires a lot of skill. The temperatures and fragrance oil ratios have to be just right. That's why the process is not for everyone, but we love it. We hope you will enjoy purchasing and burning our candles and wax melts as much as we enjoy making them for you!