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Essential oils+ carriers for use in soy wax candles

post #1 of 21
4/13/12 at 11:07pm
Thread Starter 
Hello there,

I am trying to get a handle on use of essential oils and natural carriers to make my own "essential oil based fragrance oil" for soy wax.

1) A starting point might be to ask: in a basic candle fragrance oil commonly used at 1 ounce/lb soy wax for what is known as a '10%' fragrance loading, what portion of that ounce is actually fragrance and what portion is carrier?

2) When visiting essential oil vendors web sites, it is almost never stated what the concentration is for a given essential oil.. In theory one would like to think that it is a 100% product, no filler and a full spectrum extract of the plant representing the entire fragrance range of the plant in question... But probably not....

3) in contacting any number of essential oil providers, no one had any suggestions other than to experiment when I asked for some basic numbers on the ratio of essential oil to carrier oil to make a product similar in use to conventional lab-made fragrance oils...

4) Those who make such products do use a fair amount of essentials depending the the fragrance offered.. One manufacturer gave me a breakdown on several of their fragrances relative to % natural content, and % naturally derived aroma components which left the rest to be artificial components. And if you look on the web, try to build a concensus and develop a recipe or six from discordant, conflicting sources in various candlemaking groups.. Lots of misinformation and patently dangerous/expensive and incorrect dabbling....

5) there are those who offer 'All Natural Fragrance oils' which offer documentation as shown in this linkhttp://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com..._Fragrance.pdf

But what are those naturally derived aroma chemicals? A chemist consulted by my regular supplier suggested these were weasel words for potential artificial ingredients, and certainly not considered to be essential oils.

SO, I am looking to attempt an essential oil based fragrance oil for soy wax candles. Any rules of thumb or words of wisdom or recipes or additional questions which might lead use to an answer or set of answers.

I have some basic chemistry training and remember a little from my introductory organic chemistry course.. So, I am not completely chemically illiterate. It just seems like there is little to no standardization in the essential oil products and no one who makes fragrances for profit is likely to provide you a guide or set of how-to's

Thoughts, comments... those of you making scents/fragrances/perfume... have probably all gone through this. Can someone out there save me some serious learning curve... Anybody got a GC/MS, infrared spec and lots of free time to do some free detective work??

I suspect fractionated coconut oil as a carrier in many candle fragrance oils, but how much oil per unit fragrance oil and how much actual fragrance? And how does this translate to using essential oils to create a similar, but 'natural' product.... I understand base/mid/and top note conceptually in fragrance, but looking to actually do something functional...

Thanks in advance

Mark
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post #2 of 21
4/14/12 at 1:47am
What a lot you ask!. I have a great deal of experience in making candle fragrances, but none at all in making all natural fragrances for candles, so with that proviso I will try my best to answer some of your questions. I always used to use iso Propyl Myristate, or di-Octyl Adipate as a carrier for the fragrance, but as neither of these are natural I'm sure that they are of no interest to you. I would have thought a very light carrier oil such as Almond or Castor oil may work; why not try them as see for yourself. Make up a candle containing 10.0% of either those oils and see how they burn.

The usual dosage of fragrance in a candle is between 5.0 and 10.0%; higher than that you get solubility problems. Of that, there is usually between 10.0 and 20.0% carrier (depends on how cheap you want the fragrance to be).

Any good supplier of essential oils should be selling the pure oil. However, it is probably true that all of the suppliers "extend " their oils a tad. Usually with the major chemical found in the oil, as it will cheapen it without too much deterioration in quality.

It is possible to buy "organic" oils which are guaranteed pure and unadulterated, and also grown in a pesticide free environment, but they are usually at least 10 times as expensive as conventional oils. To find these suppliers you should look on the web.

It is possible to buy "natural" chemicals, extracted from Essential Oils, they are fiendishly expensive.

TO BE CONTINUED.
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post #3 of 21
4/14/12 at 2:16am
Now, where were we?

What oils to use in your candle? Better maybe to say which oils you shouldn't use, and why. I would avoid a lot of resinous material, such as Absolutes and Concretes as they tend to burn badly, and depress the flame. Avoid, too, a lot of Clove oil and other Eugenol containing oils as they often cause clubbing of the wick ( a lump of soot at the end of the burning wick). Avoid a lot of Citrus Oils (Lemon, Orange Lime etc., although Bergamot is OK), they burn badly, smoke and smell bad. I shall assume you don't care about discolouration so I won't warn you about oils that will discolour.

So onto the positive. Oils which work really well in candles:- Geranium, Lavender, Lemongrass, Litsea Cubeba, Davana, Patchouli, Vetivert, Rose (Oil, not Absolute), Cumin, Coriander (Seed and Leaf), Sandalwood, Amyris, Tea Tree, Thyme, Olibanum, Cistus Oil, and many many more. If you find an oil that you like the smell of, why not experiment. Put it up and burn it, and see what happens.

Good luck, and enjoy.
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post #4 of 21
4/14/12 at 2:47am
: : :
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post #5 of 21
4/14/12 at 3:22am
Morning David,
Im so glad you got to this one before I did - I confess I was feeling quite daunted by that huge list of questions and candle fragrances are something I know very little about having done no more than a tiny bit of amateur dabbling 10 years ago and decided to leave it until Id improved my chemistry knowledge as there were too many extra considerations.

Youve given me some food for thought actually as a candle to match one of my fragrances is the single thing Im most often asked for by my customers that I dont currently offer.

Mark,
Thats quite a journey youve started on - and an epic first post! Welcome to Basenotes DIY.

Ill correct you on one point though, there are a few of us who make fragrances for profit who are happy to help others.

I agree with David that the natural chemicals sounds like nonsense. I looked at the link you provided and had to laugh - a certificate of authenticity from the president and ceo of the company selling the stuff - quite meaningless. If you want to get an idea about real natural isolates, take a look at the Vigon site: they stock both natural and synthetic versions of many materials and you can see clearly the cost differences between them. Often the materials are chemically identical too, so the only point in using the isolate would be if it was essential to be meet requirements of your own customers. That isnt always the case - natural isolates can be materially different - there is a lot to learn in that area if you want to get into it and Shelly Waddington has just published a book on the subject which looks likely to become the definitive work, so you could do worse than take a look at it.

In one of your questions you mention a full spectrum extract of the plant . . . - thats not what you can expect from an essential oil. By definition an essential oil is extracted by water or steam distillation and therefore the water soluble elements wont be in it (they are lost in the water, which may be collected and sold separately, as in the case of rose water for example). There are often other major differences too as the heating causes changes, some elements are lost in processing and so forth. An absolute is extracted using a volatile solvent, such as hexane or pentane, to produce a concrete (including a lot of waxes etc) and then the concrete is extracted with ethanol (normally hot ethanol) to produce the absolute.

Then there are CO2 Extracts which are fully or partially extracted with supercritical carbon dioxide as the solvent, which is then evaporated off leaving what is technically a concrete but often with quite a different collection of odorous materials from those in the conventional absolute.

Many people regard the concrete as the truest, widest spectrum extract of the plant and, in principle, you could use those in candles as the plant waxes would probably fit in well. Ive no idea whether there might be other complications with that though - David may be able to advise.

I think thats as much as I can usefully add for now.

Enjoy the journey!
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post #6 of 21
4/15/12 at 12:33am
Chris, I don't think it is so much a knowledge of chemistry with candle making, but a realisation of what you want to achieve. As with all application perfumery (when a fragrance goes into a specific product) you have to be constantly thinking of when during the use of the product do you want your fragrance to work, and how and even why? So with a candle, what is needed? Getting the fragrance to dissolve in the wax; so the correct solvent/carrier is vital. Getting the fragrance to emanate whilst burning without becoming distorted, without affecting the flame and without smoking. To modify a fine fragrance to make a candle fragrance will require (I guess!) a cheapening exercise, and a solvent change at the very least. Wax and water don't mix, all water soluble or even friendly materials must be removed. Then try it in wax, and modify to emphasise or reduce notes to duplicate the smell of the original.

By the way, I no longer make fragrances of any kind whether for profit or not, as I've retired from the business. I'm still more than happy to share my love of perfumery with others though.
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post #7 of 21
4/17/12 at 2:43pm
Thread Starter 
Wow,

Thank you all for your responses. I am very glad I have found this resource for knowledgeable tech help.

I am thinking of using fractionated coconut oil as the carrier for the essential oils. I have read on other tech pages that coconut oil is used as an amendment in some soy waxes to enhance it's performance as a container wax. I have seen reports of this amendment improving adhesion of the wax to the glass container (important in preventing so-called 'wet spots' - which will be good considering I am using tapered smooth-walled jelly jars). Also, it is my (mis?) understanding that fractionated coconut oil is a mixture of the lighter (shorter carbon chain) fractions of the oil, and that these chains are unsaturated (?) or at least not highly cross-linked....

Being considered a light oil, my suspicion is that many heavier EO's will be miscible in the carrier oil - though at what limits of concentration I am unsure. I am also thinking based on some looking-about that fractionated cocnut oil has good shelf life and a very reasonable price - very important when trying to create a product where cost and quality will both be considered by the consumer.

Right now, my part-synthetic/part-natural store-bought fragrance soy candles are very popular with my customers b/c they have a good price, perform reasonably well in their burn characteristics and are highly scented. These appear to be important elements in what customers consider a high quality product. In addition, I use no dyes - which is a plus with some customers and saves on cost

Regarding Dave's first response: Yes, I assumed there would be 'stretchers' used in EO production, but this is where I have to be careful. I believe that as long as the stretcher (?diluent) is a non-lab-made component of the EO, it's likely acceptable seeing as distillation seems to be part and parcel of EO manufacture. And again you are corrrect in your assumption that I will not be using the organic-certified EO's - nor will I be making a Jasmine scent any time soon given the costs for this EO.

I have seen the discoloration of the soy wax coming from addtion of fragrance oils containing vanilla components (I had one batch which browned the wax within 6 months - even with the plastisol lined jar lids closed tightly. It also appeared to discolor the plastisol liner. Upon experimenting with a re-melt using the microwave, the brown color either dissipated or diffused into the wax upon cooling - diffusion being my guess. On another, I re-melted and poured off the wax to discover that the metal wick tab at the bottom of the jar had a brown precipitate on it (? catalytic reaction?)

"The usual dosage of fragrance in a candle is between 5.0 and 10.0%; higher than that you get solubility problems. Of that, there is usually between 10.0 and 20.0% carrier (depends on how cheap you want the fragrance to be)."


So saying this, are these weight or volume percentages? I want to work with weight % as this reduces my math error potentials. When you say 5-10% fragrance in a candle are you referring to the fragrance oil, or essential oil content? I am assuming fragrance oil content, but then you refer to carrier content.. is this carrier for the EO's in order for them to be soluble in the larger volume of carrier mixed into the wax or am I misunderstanding you?

I also need to be surer that I have a fragrance which will volatilize off the wax pool in the container, so nothing with a volatilization temperature which is too high...

Chris, thank you for clarifying what I wasn't being good at in my description of various essential oil extractions

OK... so I am trying to identify probably 5-10 scents to work up for presentation to the client in finished form. In my market over the past 9 months, excluding the bakery scents, I have sold a lot of a citrus/herbal scents, evergreen scents, citrus/evergreen scent, lavender, patchouli, lilac.. trying to think of others

The key to getting this new client will be to bring them good wholesale pricing (dependent on their desired quantities); a quality product; with enough profit to be worth making the attempt.

So which EO's which are going to be soluble/miscible in the Frac. COare typically reasonable in cost and of good quality..

OK enough for now.. must go plant cabbages and onions in the garden and get some seeds in................

Thanks In Advance,

Mark
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post #8 of 21
4/18/12 at 12:44am
You really go for it don't you! Here we go again.

"I am thinking of using fractionated coconut oil as the carrier for the essential oils"

If what you have read about this oil is true it sounds the perfect carrier for your candles. If you have some Coconut oil to hand why not make up a Soy candle with 10.0% Coconut oil and see what happensI

" believe that as long as the stretcher (?diluent) is a non-lab-made component of the EO, it's likely acceptable "

This could be a problem. The materials that are used to "stretch" Essential Oils are usually those chemicals that are the major components of the oils. However they will have been made synthetically (cheaper than natural) so by adding them to the oil, you get more oil so make more money. These "extenders" are called "Nature Identical" which means that they occur in Nature (in an Essential Oil) but are made synthetically. Not all Essential Oils will be thus diluted, and not all to the same extent. That's where good QC and (possibly) a good GC analyst comes in.

"The usual dosage of fragrance in a candle is between 5.0 and 10.0%; higher than that you get solubility problems. Of that, there is usually between 10.0 and 20.0% carrier (depends on how cheap you want the fragrance to be)."

Sorry, I should have been more clear; I always work in weight not volume.

5.0-10.0% is the total fragrance oil (so 5.0-10.0 gms of fragrance in 100.0 gms candle) Within the fragrance oil there will be some diluent (carrier) which is usually between 10.0 and 20.0% of the fragrance oil.

You are quite right about the metal causing an increased discolouration. Many materials will discolour, if you don't think this is a problem then ignore it.

All of the oils I mentioned will work in candles, and I'm sure there are many others that you can experiment with yourself.

By the way, as you are from America have you contacted the American Candle Maker's Association? As I'm sure you know, candles are a huge business in the USA, they may be of help to you.

Enjoy your gardening; and the candles.
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post #9 of 21
4/18/12 at 5:01pm
Thread Starter 
Dave,

Thanks for your reply. Enlightening as usual.

OK, so I did a bit of math - which is scary, despite calculus in school... my current batch wax weights approach 16 lb (7.26 kg), to which I am adding a supplier-recommended 1 lb fragrance oil (0.454 kg), which has an unknown amount of synthetic fragrance components - which indicates a roughly 6.25% fragrance oil (carrier plus smell) loading.... Much more than this and without additional chemical amendments (polymers), the wax starts to bleed fragrance oil.... and we want to avoid extra chemicals if possible for this client.

So, in a given amount of lab-created fragrance oil, typically, what percentage of that amount are actual fragrance constituents and how much is carrier oil?

If I understand correctly and follow your suggestion, you propose between 0.363 kg and 0.726 kg essential oils per 7.26 kg wax? Or, are you suggesting 0.363 to 0.726 kg aggregate compounded fragrance oil; of which 10% to 20 % will be my selected carrier oil?

So, If I follow the 6% fragrance oil loading recommendation of the supplier and use a total of 454 gms compounded fragrance oil and go for the high end of carrier oil content (20%), would I be correct in my speculation that of the 454 gms fragrance oil, that 91 gms is carrier oil and 363 gms is essential oils straight from the bottle?

Do I have that correct? Was hoping that the proportions would be the other way 'round. It is sounding more and more that my product costs, without factoring in labor will make the finished product wholesale price higher than I might want it to be....

The candle trade group you are referring to is known as the National Candle Association (NCA). Their website is www.candles.org They really do not seem to want small craft producers as members. Their dues structure is based upon annual company revenue.. and I fall into the catagory below. Their dues amount is the size of a MAJOR supply purchase for my business... so, not in my budget anytime soon...

NCA 2012 Dues Structure for Regular Members
SALES VOLUME** DUES
Less than $5 million $2,310


As for the garden, the San Marzano tomato seeds and two varieties of lettuce are planted, the onion starts and cabbages are transplanted. My Radishes are up, but beans, herbs, carrots are not.

My greyhounds are affectionate and appreciate a walk...

Thanks,

Mark
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post #10 of 21
4/18/12 at 5:02pm
Thread Starter 
00ps! double post
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post #11 of 21
4/18/12 at 8:12pm
One manufacturer gave me a breakdown on several of their fragrances relative to % natural content, and % naturally derived aroma components which left the rest to be artificial components. And if you look on the web, try to build a concensus and develop a recipe or six from discordant
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post #12 of 21
4/19/12 at 12:53am
Mark, adding too much fragrance can cause "bleeding"; how much is too much depends on what is in the fragrance and what wax you use. I'm not sure what you mean exactly but I think you feel that there are two separate components put into the candle;fragrance oil and carrier. I have never thought like this. I put one component into the candle, the perfume. That perfume would contain a mixture of essential oils, synthetic aroma chemicals (which have a smell) and solvents (carriers) which do not have a smell. The amount of each of those in my perfume depends on many things, including the final cost. Cost, for me, was less of a problem than for you as I never made fragrances containing only Essential Oils. I could cheapen by replacing expensive oils with less expensive alternatives. If you want to cheapen your fragrance by diluting it (by adding, in your jargon, more carrier) then go ahead. It will not be as strong, is all. It may be that the more dilute fragrance will burn better; again this depends on what is in it.

Sorry to hear that the NCA don't encourage small craft producers, what can I say?

You're lucky to be able to garden, it has been too cold, windy and wet to do anything here.

Once again, good luck.
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post #13 of 21
4/26/12 at 11:57am
David, I LOVE your input! I've been dabbing into candle/wax melt making for a few years now and would love some tips/advice on your experience with aromachems & candles? How about different kind of waxes? I'm always trying stuff out, experimenting and learning a lot but would appreciate input from an expert
Also any good books that you would recommend on the subject?
Many thanks!
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post #14 of 21
4/26/12 at 12:58pm
Thread Starter 
David,

I am aware of the bleed issues with saturation of the wax with fragrance oils.

I wanted to also follow up with your suggestion on carrier oil ratios to essential oils. I am not seeking to 'cheapen' my fragrance. Dilution for costs sake alone is not my goal. My thought is that since manufacturers do not reveal their composition components and their concentrations, one does not know the proportions of (in my case) essential oils at what concentrations (an unknown) to carrier oils. I want a candle with good cold and hot throw, but I do not want to make a product which over-scents to the distaste of the consumer; nor do I want to make an unaffordable product given what it is... I am uncertain who my customer would be for a "super-premium" dye-free, essential-oil-scented, soy wax candle... A seeming oxymoron when taken in the context of a fragrance which someone might wear.... though there is that firm packing diamonds in their scented candles.

The garden has it's radishes up, broccoli, beets and peas sprouting, green beans and lettuce making their presence noted, but it is still cold; though we have finally rerceived some rain...

Mark
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post #15 of 21
4/27/12 at 1:43am
Mark, I would have thought that your candle, well the way you describe it, is a "premium product". Of course you want a candle with good cold and hot throw; doesn't everyone? In perfumery there never is a general answer. The ratio of smelling stuff (in your case Essential Oils) and non smelling carrier (solvent) which gets your desired performance will depend on the make up of your Essential Oils mix, and the make up of your candle wax, AND the make up of your carrier. I cannot tell you what those proportions are, you will just have to test and test, and test again. When I said that we used to use about 20.0% solvent in our candle fragrances, that was deliberately vague; it varied enormously. Manufacturers NEVER reveal anything, unless forced by law. Why should they? Before you show anything to your customer you must have burned it and tested it yourself. How long does it burn? How big the flame? Is the burn clean? And so on. I'm sure I don't have to tell you. As I don't know what wax or wick you are using;nor the size and shape of the candle I cannot help anymore. And even if I did know all of that I doubt if my advice would be that accurate. The only way to find out is to test yourself.

You want rain? We got rain. We have a hose pipe ban (after two very dry Winters our reservoirs are dangerously low). Since the ban was imposed, it has rained every day.

Irina, thank you for your kind words. I'm afraid though that I can't help you that much. I know about making candle fragrances, I know little about candle waxes. Also I know of no useful book on the subject although there are any number of books about candle making. How good they are, I have no idea. Sorry.
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post #16 of 21
4/27/12 at 3:25am
No problem, David. I was just wondering if I can avoid using expensive aromachemicals that might not work in wax. Maybe you have a list like you wrote above on the subject of EO's of aromachems that do burn well? Or the ones that should be avoided?
Just a list of what common aromachems I mean that I couldn't find info on how they would behave in candles
(I mostly use this search engine when looking into functional fragrance: http://www.givaudan.com/Fragrances/F...+Search_hidden)
Linalool
Hydroxycitronellal
Limonene
Citral
citronellol
lyral
geraniol
coumarin

Thanks again!
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post #17 of 21
4/28/12 at 12:58am
Irina, I'm afraid I don't have a definitive list of materials that work in candles, although I do know that there are hundreds of them. Don't restrict yourself to the Givaudan site, there are others such as Firmenich, IFF and Symrise. These will usually concentrate on their own speciality materials however. As a good guide, try to imagine what is happening when you burn a candle and how the fragrance is released from the burning candle. The wax around the flame melts, and it is the melted wax that warms and releases the volatile fragrance materials. So you need to select materials that are not too volatile nor not volatile enough (so very few simple esters and few musks and resins). You need to select materials with a flash point high enough to prevent the material from burning or flashing off. Of the materials in your list I would avoid coumarin and limonene. By the way you do realise that they are all listed as allergens, don't you?

Sorry I can't be of more help, but your question involves a huge amount of work. All I can suggest you do is make small test candles, with proportionally small amounts of aromachemical, and test them to see how they perform. You need not waste much and will learn a lot. Good luck.
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post #18 of 21
4/28/12 at 2:37am
Irina, one other thing that I forgot to mention (but you probably know anyway), never use any material that is remotely water soluble; water and wax don't mix. So never use Dipropylene Glycol (DPG) as a solvent; avoid using Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol (PEA) or Hydroxycitronellal.
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post #19 of 21
4/28/12 at 10:37am
THANK YOU! so much David! You are most kind! I'll just get testing indeed!
Wonderful pointers too, I was indeed looking into high flash points and hydrophobicity.
As for the mentioned chems being allergens, those are the ones I'd especially like to use as the legislation on those (candles are classified as non-skin category 11 as per IFRA) is more lenient (and I have to avoid them due to my own allergies anyways, thus I built a collection that is just catching dust atm .

(ETA category 11)
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post #20 of 21
4/29/12 at 1:54am
Irina, good luck and have fun. I'm sure you will learn a lot. Do please let me know how you get on.
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post #21 of 21
4/29/12 at 3:59am
Of course I'll keep in touch, thanks again, David
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