About Vegetable Waxes And Combustion

Plant-based waxes have now become viable fuels for the candle industry alongside the more traditional fuels. The all-natural, easily-renewable ingredients of vegetable waxes appeal to retail customers’ environmental sensitivities and combustion emissions concerns.

Two examples of these products are 100% Soy Oil and Palm Oil derived waxes.

Soot Issues

When these compounds are burned, they create a number of by-products of combustion, one of which is soot. This soot is less visible than other combusted fuels in that it, in general, is tan in color compared to macro-particle black carbon chains.

Of course, as in any application, more aggressively-wicked candles will overwhelm clean efficient combustive reactions and produce black soot and smoke regardless of the wax origins. Therefore, proper wick sizing is the key to optimum vegetable-based candle burning as much as it is in any other candle product.

Wick Choice

In general, wicks with high liquid flow characteristics are more compatible and successful with vegetable-based fuels. The plant-derived wax is more viscous when liquified, requiring an unimpeded conduit for maximizing capillary action.

Non-cored wicks usually will allow a more predictable and consistent flow of molten wax because they have less material density in their total surface area than cored wicks. The exceptions to the rule are cored wicks that are directional, since they are engineered to promote liquid flow in one direction more than the other.

In these types of wicks, the design is effective in metering the melted liquid at a consistent flow rate which increases the predictability and lessens the fluctuations in the candles burning.

More about wicks..

Vegetable Wick Wax

Although candles made from plant-based waxes can use both petroleum and vegetable based wick waxes with equal success, for those manufacturers desiring to remain 100% vegetable based, Wicks Unlimited offers a 100% vegetable based wick wax with a drop melt point of 166° F.