What is Soy Wax?

What is all of the buzz about ? What is it exactly?

Soy wax is a vegetable wax made from the oil of soybeans. After harvesting, the beans are cleaned, cracked, de-hulled, and rolled into flakes. The oil is then extracted from the flakes and hydrogenated. The hydrogenation process converts some of the fatty acids in the oil from unsaturated to saturated. This process dramatically alters the melting point of the oil, making it a solid at room temperature. The leftover bean husks are commonly used as animal feed.

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 

The U.S. grows the vast majority of the world’s soy beans, primarily in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. It benefits U.S. agriculture as soy beans are grown, harvested and manufactured in the U.S.A. By producing and burning soy candles can greatly benefit the American economy.  If soy wax replaced common paraffin wax an estimated 60 million pounds of soy beans would be required for annual candle production. Soy candles support U.S. soybean farmers where, paraffin candles could be manufactured with foreign oil.

What are the benefits?

Soy’s greatest advantage is that it is completely renewable. While the global reserves of oil shrink and paraffin prices increase, the only limit to the soy supply is how much we choose to grow. In addition to sustainability, a well-made soy candle will burn clean and slow, much to the delight of our customers. While the performance and beauty of soy candles speak for themselves, soy wax is truly the best wax for that perfect candle.

Research efforts surrounding soy and its uses have resulted in a boom in everyday consumer goods, such as body & skin care products, hair products, cleaning products, paint removers, crayons, and yes even candles.

How was Soy Wax Invented?

Soy wax was invented by a group of college students in 1996 at Purdue University. The students had to develope a birthday candle using a renewable resource. They chose to use soybean oil. The students figured out how to solidify soy bean oil and won first place in a competition, sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Development Council and Purdue’s Department of Agronomy.

The Purdue Invention of soy wax marked the beginning of the soy candle industry as a whole!

Additional information was found

http://www.candlescience.com/learning/what-is-soy-wax.php

http://www.pureintegrity.com/benefits-of-soy-wax-candles.html

https://news.uns.purdue.edu/html4ever/1996/9604.schweitzer.html