VEGETAL STEARINE ( ADDITIVE FOR VEGETAL WAXES- FROM PALM)

Description

Palm Stearic Acid is a triple-pressed, all-natural additive that is used widely in the candle industry for many reasons but mainly to allow a higher fragrance loading, to reduce sweating, and to harden the vegetable waxes, allowing them to burn more time and more evenly and with high thermal stability.

Plant-based stearin from RSPO-certified plantations is a palm-based fatty acid.

Organic palm stearin is solid at room temperature with a high melting point.

Properties

A fatty acid that occurs naturally in plant fats (typically coconut or palm oil), stearic acid is white, solid, often crystalline, and with a mild odor. It’s a major component of cocoa and shea butter.

Stearic acid is a fatty acid typically produced by hydrolysis of common vegetable fats and oils, followed by fractionation (distillation or crystallization) of the resulting fatty acids. Pressing methods separate the liquid unsaturated fatty acids from the solid saturated fatty acids.

Stearic acid used in cosmetics is usually pressed two or three times, resulting in different concentrations. Cosmetic-grade stearic acids are usually mixtures of fatty acids, depending on how they’re manufactured and where they come from (often they’re combined with palmitic acid). 

Stearic acid is a wax additive that is used in candles to make them burn more evenly and with high thermal stability. The melting point of stearin is 62°C.

One of the particularities of stearin is that its softening point and its melting point are almost identical (there is a 15°C difference between the two points for paraffin).

A candle made from a mixture of vegetal wax ( or paraffin)  and stearic acid will burn longer than a candle made from pure paraffin or pure vegetal wax.

Benefits of using stearin:

• Increases the burning time of a candle.
• Can be colored very well and makes the colors more intense.
• Makes the wax more opaque.
• Allows you to make molded candles (100% stearin).
• Allows you to make scented fondants (100% stearin), the olfactory rendering is very efficient. Improves olfactory rendering (5 to 10%) with soy wax.
• Makes the candle harder which avoids small cracks.

• Kosher and Allal certified

• This stearin complies with European REACH regulations.

With a higher dose, you can cloud the wax and if you go much further, the surface can start to crystallize. 

Some aspects of stearin are interesting, a "crystal" effect can be obtained (provided you provide a powerful wick) with lower proportions than those recommended, and conversely, you can obtain much more intense colors with higher proportions. Stearic acid can also be used as a wax, without any additive, either for the production of candles poured into a glass or for the manufacture of molded candles.

Stearic acid is used in hundreds of personal care products, including moisturizers, sunscreen, makeup, soap, and baby lotion.

Recommendation 

The standard mix of Stearin is 5-10%. Stearin can be mixed at higher proportions, up to a recommended maximum of 25-30%.  Our advice is to start with a percentage between  2-10% in all waxes to test.

If you are using vegetal waxes with a wooden wick using a small percentage of stearin improves the burning ( between 2-10%).

It is not recommended to use latex molds with stearin, due to the acidic nature of Natural Palm Stearin. It's better to use metal and silicone molds.