Candle cubes from apple wood
The apple industry turned out to be a big opportunity for the region of Haspengouw (Belgium). The high availability of wooden residues from apple trees, prompted a Belgian company to create new value added products out of this specific biomass.
About 800.000 apple trees (30.000 tons of wood) are stubbed in the region every year. Before of this practice, the generated biomass was kept under-exploited or left beside on the field.
The candles and fire pit made out of wood chips and paraffin became a local alternative to the paraffin pots traditionally used by farmers.
The product is sold to practitioners and used as frost protection for the blossom in orchards (both open field and covered), with 8 hours-burning-time. Candles can also be used in gardens, with a burning time of 3 – 4 hours;
The practice follows a circular approach, with several benefits for practitioners:
1. Ashes turn into organic fertilizer for the orchard
2. The farmer does not have to collect the empty pots
3. Optimized logistics due to the cubic shape of the candles
4. The product is cheaper than the normally used pots (1500€ / night / ha instead of 2500€)
5. Producing no smoke makes them suitable for protected crop areas as, for example, Sherries
6. Smaller in size, farmers can drive over with tractors
7. Farmers can reuse their own wood as a source material
8. They contain only a limited amount of paraffin