Reducing Odiferous Volatiles with Zeolites

Users of personal care products occasionally are offended, understandably, by undesirable odors that may arise from certain ingredients in products or other sources. Fragrances added to formulations may hide smells, but this technique is not always successful. For example, self-tanning lotions produce undesirable odors from the Maillard reaction that produces the tan. Since different odors are produced at different times during tanning, it is difficult to mask a continually changing profile of odors. An alternative solution is to add a zeolite that adsorbs the odors that are produced.

The successful elimination of odor from self-tanning lotions spurs the question: Are there other unwanted odors of common personal care ingredients that can be removed with odor-adsorbing zeolites? This paper demonstrates that the characteristic odors of many personal care ingredients can be substantially reduced by odor-adsorbing zeolites.

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