Air Freshener

Air fresheners are generally designed to eliminate bad odors and add fragrance or freshness to the home environment. They are primarily functional products although many have become more decorative in recent years. Their primary purposes are to mask or eliminate unpleasant odors, fragrance and freshen the air. Product types include room sprays and diffusers.

• Room sprays - generally aerosol sprays in cans, although higher end specialty sprays may come with pump sprays in glass bottles.
  Typical mass market room sprays are highly functional and recently have been repositioned to eliminate odors rather than simply mask them.
• Diffusers – release and disperse fragrance into the air. They are generally classified as being active or passive. Active diffusers require an energy source to activate scent release. They are either electric, generally plugged into an outlet, or battery operated. Passive diffusers do not require energy but release fragrance from some form of substrate. Types of passive diffusers include adjustable solids, gel products, and reed diffusers.

Specialty products are also considered a part of the air freshener market. These types of air fresheners include a variety of products designed to add scent to a room or space. They are available in different product forms, including:

• Potpourri - is generally made from various dried botanicals, and other natural products such as flowers, fruits, wood chips, and spices that may have fragrance oils added to them.
• Sachets - are small pouches, bags, cushions or pillows that are filled with scented powder, crushed potpourri and botanicals or solid, fragrant tablets.
• Incense - is made primarily from a mixture of fragrant gums, resins, woods and spices. It is available in various forms including stick, cone, rod, coil, small block, wand and powder.
• Fragrance oil burning lamp - is a catalytic diffusion lamp that purifies the air while imparting a fragrance.
• Fragrance oils – concentrated fragrance oils that are added to oil warmers to release scent into the air. Generally a tealight candle is used to heat up the oil for quick scent release.