Air Freshener

Air Freshener is a consumer product widely used in households all around the world. The basic idea is that either through a can, lit candle, self activating plug in, potpourri, or wall stick on, the freshener will secrete a pleasant odor to keep the room smelling nice and to counteract any bad smells in the atmosphere caused by smoking, pets or general living. Unlike air purifiers, air freshener does not physically clean the air or filter the air, it just masks or blankets the smells already in the room with a stronger, but nicer odor. More advanced air fresheners contain small amounts of absorbents that soak up the bad smells or chemicals in the atmosphere.

The most common type of air freshener is simply the “masking agent”. These tend to be at the cheaper end of the scale and simply spray out a nice fragrance, without interacting with the atmosphere in anyway. There are some health concerns that in non ventilated rooms excessive use of fragrant air fresheners could detrimental to your health.

Anesthetization air fresheners combine small doses of anesthetic type chemicals that physically dull your sense of smell, so that you cannot smell as efficiently, therefore you lower the bad odor smell in your mind. A lot of scented candles when burned give off anesthetic like properties.

Disinfection is more of a physical cleaning method than an air freshener, but some sprays contain similar substances. Bad smells that are the result of mould or bacteria can usually only be eliminated permanently at the source by cleaning and bleaching it away. Chlorine, bleach and hydrogen peroxide are common bases for store bought disinfectant.

Adsorption based air fresheners combine a nice odor with chemicals that can absorb odors and chemicals from the atmosphere.

Popular modern air fresheners can now be plugged in to an electrical socket and automatically spray every so many hours.