Africa-Wales Honey and Beeswax Trade Project

Rebecca Howard, Guiding Hope, PO Box 15753, Yaoundé, Cameroon David Wainwright, Tropical Forest Products Ltd, PO Box 92, Aberystwyth, UK

Keywords: beeswax extraction, Cameroon, honey extraction, Welsh Assembly Government Wales for Africa Grant Scheme

The aims of the Project

• To identify the most cost effective and efficient equipment for processing comb honey harvested from fixed comb hives.

• To maximise the recovery rate of liquid honey extracted from comb honey.

• To improve the quality of beeswax harvested.

Bees for Development has been working with Tropical Forest Products (TFP) and Guiding Hope (GH) on an 18 month Project to improve the efficiency and quality of honey and beeswax harvested from local style hives by beekeepers in Cameroon. This honey and beeswax are to be sold on national and international markets. TFP began trading with GH in 2007 and provided the young enterprise with valuable support and guidance. Bf D is interested to share the learning from the Project with other potential honey and beeswax exporters through their extensive network. The Welsh Assembly Government provided funding for the Project through the Wales for Africa Grant Scheme. The Project is being implemented in three stages:

The first stage of the Project took place at GH’s processing plant in Cameroon in December 2009. This involved designing an improved system for separating liquid honey from beeswax comb. GH buys high quality honey in comb from over 600 beekeepers who are using local style hives across the savannah of Adamaoua. The liquid honey is separated from the beeswax comb at GH’s central plant. Before the Project, GH could process 1,950 kg of comb honey in a 24 hour period, using a series of 20 bottomless enamel basins lined with a layer of straw (as a filter) and placed over a second set of smaller enamel basins (see below).

Before the Project, Guiding Hope used enamel basins lined with straw to separate liquid honey from beeswax comb

All across Adamaoua honey to be sold on national and regional markets is processed by leaving these basins in the sun to speed up the filtration process. However the heat created causes the HMF in the honey to increase. Therefore in the new process the honey is drained indoors, to prevent warming of honey and increase in HMF.

In 2009 GH reached maximum filtration capacity because there was no space for any more enamel basins in the warehouse. With David Wainwright’s advice, GH worked with a local carpenter to design a draining table, made of local timber and imported stainless steel mesh with 3.3 mm holes and 0.9 mm wire.

The draining table made from local timber and imported stainless steel mesh

PHOTOS © GUIDING HOPE

The new process had the following advantages:

Cleaner honey - Honey was cleaner when drained through the stainless mesh rather than straw.

Increase in capacity - Eight draining tables took up the same space in the warehouse as 20 basins, but could filter twice the amount of honeycomb in the same amount of time.

Reduction of labour - The new method is less labour intensive since employees are able to stand upright to pour the honey and then leave it to drain, whereas with the basins, they needed to regularly adjust the filters and change the collecting basins.

Cost - Each draining table costs USD100 (€74) for mesh plus USD150 (€110) for local materials and construction.

Using the old method, after the first draining the remaining residues were typically filtered in the sun, producing a second grade honey for sale on the national or regional market. The comb was then washed to prepare it for wax extraction. The honey washings still contained a significant amount of honey, a product which in other regions of Africa is commonly sold for honey beer brewing, but has no market in the region where GH operate because there is little consumption of honey beer. This honey separated from the comb during washing was therefore considered a waste product. However, during our investigations we found that at least 10% of total honey was being thrown away in these washings.

During David Wainwright’s stay in Cameroon, he worked with GH to quantify how much honey, beeswax and waste were obtained from each batch, with these results *.

* The original article has a table showing the results which is not available on this mobile friendly version.

The aim of the second stage of the experiment was therefore:

• To recover maximum honey from the residues in an efficient and cost effective way.

• To improve the yield and quality of wax recovered from the residues.

Two representatives from GH travelled to Wales in March 2010 to take part in this research, which involved a series of honey extraction and wax processing trials carried out in TFP’s factory using Welsh comb honey. David Wainwright designed two different prototype stainless steel, double jacketed settling tanks. The first was an electric tank fitted with a thermostat, and the second was a wood-fired tank. Because there is little capacity for stainless steel fabrication in Cameroon, the idea was to finalise the model, purchase it in the UK, and export it to Cameroon.

Four different methods for extracting honey from the comb residues were tested:

1. Screw press Similar in design to an oil press, an electric motor and reduction gear box drives a shaft with a variable pitch screw thread which continuously forces the honey and wax mixture against a perforated sleeve.

2. Bladder press A batch of honey is placed in a perforated stainless cage and forced against the mesh by means of a compressed air operated rubber bladder.

3. Cappings melter A thermostatically controlled hot tray melts the honey and wax mixture, both liquids run down channels into a settling tank, where the beeswax floats on the top.

4. Heated tank Two versions were tested: one electrically heated, the other wood fired. The honey and wax mixture melts and the wax floats on the honey. The honey can be tapped off as it settles. Eventually it is mainly wax remaining in the tank: water is then added and the wax floats up through a fine stainless mesh.

Draining tables in use in Guiding Hope’s warehouse

Honey draining through the mesh

All of these devices were equally efficient at extracting honey from residues under ideal circumstances. However, this was not our only consideration. We need a device to process several tonnes of residues per day, to be largely free from maintenance, and able to handle variations in the consistency of the residues. Machines supplied by conventional beekeeping appliance manufacturers are designed for processing the cappings removed from honeycomb contained within frames (from frame hives) before centrifugal extraction: such machines are not designed to handle combs of honey harvested from local style hives, which often contain a mixture of light and dark beeswax.

We eventually settled on the heated tank method, and eliminated the other devices for the following reasons:

Screw press - When working properly, this machine produced nearly dry wax with all the honey being extracted. It is a continuous process so has the potential for handling a large volume of residues per day. However, it does not work well if the temperature, or the proportion of honey in the residues, varies from optimum. It requires a skilled operator, regular maintenance and replacement of bearings.

Bladder press - Extraction rate is good but output is slow because this is a batch process and it takes about 30 minutes to empty the press of wax and refill it for the next batch. The bladder can be easily damaged by a sharp object such as a thorn or piece of wood. Any pollen in the comb is squeezed into the honey.

Cappings melter - This does not cope well with comb from local style hives which contains dark wax. It is designed for white cappings which melt easily and leave little insoluble comb behind. When used with dark comb it quickly blocks with comb debris so that the honey and molten wax cannot flow away, and they become over heated.

The heated tank we preferred was heated by electricity and controlled by an easily programmed thermostat. The wood fired tank also worked adequately, if run at a slow boil. However, as electricity is cheap in Cameroon, there was no advantage in the wood fired option. We trialled a 400 kg capacity tank but in practice we will use several 1,000 kg capacity tanks that will be purchased second hand. They will be insulated, double jacketed stainless steel tanks, with an open top and conical base sloping down to a central outlet, with a height about 1.5 times their width. They will be fitted with a 2.5 or 3.0 inch (1 inch = 2.54 cm) valve at the base for honey, and two further valves at different heights above, for wax. They will be heated by 3-phase electricity, controlled by a programmable thermostat.

In operation the tanks will be filled with residues and set to about 80°C. After one hour the tap can be opened and honey run off until half melted wax starts to come through. The tap is then closed to allow more honey to settle out. The aim is to have the honey running out at about 60°C. The wax on the sides of the tank melts and rises and the honey sinks to the bottom. Eventually a slurry of wax, comb debris and just a little honey is left, which will settle out very slowly and only very small amounts of honey can be tapped off at this point. This remainder of honey is not worthwhile extracting. A fine mesh sieve made to fit tight above the wax slurry is now bolted into the tank and water added to bring the level up above the sieve. This is left to heat overnight, the wax melts and comes up through the sieve. This clean filtered wax can then be tapped off.

In our trials, about 98% of the honey in the starting material was extracted by a combination of this tank and a draining table, as well as producing good quality, clean beeswax. The honey from the tank was on average heated to about 60°C which caused the HMF to rise to around 10 mg/kg compared to the drained honey which had an HMF of less than 5 mg/kg. Therefore the honey from the tank is not ideal for export, because the export process will further increase the HMF. However it is fine for sale as long as it is not reheated or stored for long periods, as it easily meets standards for HMF content such as the Codex Alimentarius honey standard maximum which is 40 mg/kg.

The third phase of the Project is to manufacture, ship and install the settling tanks in Cameroon. GH is currently building a new warehouse in the port of Douala which will house the new equipment.

We thank the Welsh Assembly Government Wales for Africa Grant Scheme for their support of this Project

Tropical Forest Products Ltd is a Welsh Company specialising in the import and sale of honey and beeswax from Africa, as well as marketing their own British honey.

Guiding Hope is a honey and beeswax trading company in Cameroon. It was established in 2007 by young entrepreneurs with the aim of developing responsible, fair and profitable trade of apiculture products. In 2008 GH won the SEED (Supporting Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development) Award. GH promotes the harvest of high quality, high value honey and bee products. The Company organises the collection, processing and export of these products and conducts market research and outreach to strengthen the apiculture sector in Cameroon. GH is now an exporter of honey to TFP in Wales in the EU (Cameroon’s Residue Monitoring Plan was accepted through EU Directive Guidelines in October 2009), and intends to upscale operations significantly over the next few years.

HMF stands for hydroxymethylfurfural, a compound formed when sugars are heated. The level of HMF in honey is used as an indicator of how much the honey has been heated. HMF levels also increase slowly during storage of honey. Fresh honey will have a low level of HMF, for example 5 mg/kg.

HMF is not poisonous - other food products containing heated sugars such as jams and sweets will have HMF levels more than 100 times that found in honey.

David, Michael and Rebecca with beeswax rendered from the wood-fired tank