EMULSIONS FOR USE IN AIR FRESHENERS DEVICES

Abstract

The present invention relates to liquid air fresheners devices and to specific emulsions for use in said liquid air fresheners devices.

Claims

1. A liquid air freshener system, comprising: (i) a container; (ii) a liquid air freshener composition; and (iii) a diffuser for diffusing the air freshener composition into surrounding air, wherein the liquid air freshener composition is an oil-in-water emulsion comprising: (a) an aqueous phase; (b) an oily phase comprising at least one perfume or aroma substance or perfume oil; (c) at least one surfactant; (d) at least one stabiliser, selected from the group consisting of polyacrylate or polymethacrylate thickener, xanthan gum, gellan gum, guar gum, alginic acid, alginate, agar-agar, carrageenan, welan gum, locust bean gum, tragacanth, gum arabic, pectins, polyoses, starch, dextrin, gelatine, casein, modified starches and modified celluloses and mixtures thereof; and optionally (e) at least one other additive and/or adjuvant; and the amount of the surfactant is from 0.4 to 5% by weight, based on the total weight of the oily phase, the oil-in-water emulsion having an average oil droplet size of about 1 to about 15 m.

2. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the oil-in-water emulsion has an average oil droplet size 1 m and <15 m.

3. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the proportion of the at least one perfume or aroma substance or perfume oil of the oil-in-water emulsion is 0.1 to 75% by weight, in particular 3 to 8% by weight, relative to the total weight of the oil-in-water emulsion.

4. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one surfactant of the oil-in-water emulsion has an HLB value of 8 to 18, in particular an HLB value of 10 to 14.

5. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one surfactant of the oil-in-water emulsion is selected from the group consisting of non-ionic surfactants, anionic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, and mixtures thereof.

6. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the oil-in-water emulsion comprises: 25 to 99.9% by weight, in particular 89 to 96% by weight, of the aqueous phase; 0.1 to 75% by weight, in particular 3 to 8% by weight, of the oily phase comprising at least one perfume or aroma substance or perfume oil; 0.004 to 18% by weight, in particular 0.3 to 1.3% by weight of surfactant; up to 1.5% by weight, in particular 0.6 to 1.1% by weight of stabiliser; and optionally up to 1% by weight, in particular 0.1 to 0.9% by weight of additives and/or adjuvants; based on the total weight of the oil-in-water emulsion.

7. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the diffuser is a natural or synthetic porous material that allows the diffusion of the air freshener composition.

8. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the diffuser comprises one or more wicks, reeds, or natural or synthetic porous diffusers.

9. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the diffuser is selected from the group consisting of a wick, a reed diffuser, wooden or card board.

10. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 9, wherein the reed diffuser is made from a material selected from the group consisting of wick, reed diffuser, wooden or card board.

11. Liquid air freshener system according to claim 1, wherein the air freshener system further comprises removable means for preventing diffusion of the air freshener composition into surrounding air.

12. An oil-in-water emulsion as a liquid air freshener composition in a liquid air freshener system, the oil-in-water emulsion comprising: (a) an aqueous phase; (b) an oily phase comprising at least one perfume or aroma substance or perfume oil; (c) at least one surfactant; (d) at least one stabiliser, selected from the group consisting of polyacrylate or polymethacrylate thickener, xanthan gum, gellan gum, guar gum, alginic acid, alginate, agar-agar, carrageenan, welan gum, locust bean gum, tragacanth, gum arabic, pectins, polyoses, starch, dextrin, gelatine, casein, modified starches and modified celluloses, and mixtures thereof; and optionally (e) at least one other additive and/or adjuvant; wherein the amount of the surfactant is from 0.4 to 5% by weight, based on the total weight of the oily phase, and the oil-in-water emulsion having an average oil droplet size of about 1 to about 15 m.

13. The emulsion according to claim 12, wherein the liquid air freshener system is a wick device or a reed diffuser.

14. An oil-in-water emulsion comprising: (a) an aqueous phase; (b) an oily phase comprising at least one perfume or aroma substance or perfume oil; (c) at least one surfactant; (d) at least one stabiliser, selected from the group consisting of polyacrylate or polymethacrylate thickener, xanthan gum, gellan gum, guar gum, alginic acid, alginate, agar-agar, carrageenan, welan gum, locust bean gum, tragacanth, gum arabic, pectins, polyoses, starch, dextrin, gelatine, casein, modified starches and modified celluloses, and mixtures thereof; and optionally (e) at least one other additive and/or adjuvant; wherein the amount of the surfactant is from 0.4 to 5% by weight, based on the total weight of the oily phase, the oil-in-water emulsion having an average oil droplet size 1 m and <15 m.

15. A method for perfuming and/or refreshing ambient air, comprising diffusing the liquid air freshener composition according to claim 1 with the diffuser.

Description

[0148] FIG. 1 Evaporation test using a liquid air freshener composition according to the present invention.

[0149] FIG. 2 Evaporation test using a liquid air freshener composition based on dipropylene glycol methyl ether.

[0150] FIG. 3 Evaporation test using diffusers made from different material (wood board and card board).

[0151] A completely evaporation of the liquid air freshener composition was confirmed. Further, the evaporation the liquid air freshener system according to the invention was a bit slower than the evaporation using a liquid air freshener composition based on dipropylene glycol methyl ether (Dowanol DPM) and similar conditions as same dosage, sample size and reed stick length.

[0152] It is important to point out, that that when approx. 10% air freshener composition remains, the air fresheners are visually empty, as the remaining 10% can hide in the wick.

[0153] The evaporation curves of the emulsion according to the present invention are flatter than those of the DPM variant; nevertheless, the air fresheners according to the invention are indeed empty later than those containing a composition based on DPM.