Cassia Gum Powder Usage in Preparing Air Fresheners
Air Fresheners
Air fresheners liven up the respiratory aesthetics of small closed spaces such as a room, corridor, laboratory, washroom, or a hallway by suppressing foul smells and emitting pleasant fragrances. They are also often used in hospital facilities, public auditoriums, hotel lobbies, and other kinds of large interior spaces to eliminate damp or musty smells. Air fresheners come in various shapes and sizes. They can have a single fragrance or a multitude of them.
Cassia Gum As Gelling Agent
Cassia gum is a polysaccharide derived from the Cassia tora plant. This plant is considered a weed and grows in parts of South Asia, including India where it is aplenty. The seeds of Cassia tora are separated, dried, and ground down to form cassia gum powder.
Gelling agents, also called gel-forming agents or thickening agents are substances which when dissolved in the liquid state as a colloidal mixture form a weakly cohesive internal structure. These are either organic hydrocolloids or hydrophilic inorganic substances.
Cassia has properties that make it suitable to be utilized as Gelling Agent. A brief description is as given below.
Properties of Cassia Gum
Cassia gum happens to be a wonderful gelling agent when mixed with other gums like Xanthan gum. These gelling agents find application across a variety of industries. Cassia gum consists of chemicals like cinnamaldehyde, manito, tannin, and a few essential oils. Resins and sugars are also present in considerable amounts. These, in turn, provide the solid binding capacity of this gum. This is why this gum finds extensive use as a foam stabilizer, intensifier, emulsifier, and an overall moisture retention agent in the food tech industry.
Cassia gum has also the specialty to form tough thermoplastic gels with Carrageenan gum (yet another type of tree-extracted gum).
Cassia gum powder is soluble in warm water. It has been observed that on strong heating, it reaches full viscosity in the aqueous solution. It consists of 75% polysaccharides among other things.
Role of Cassia Gum in Preparing Air Fresheners
Cassia gum, owing to its property of acting as a gelling agent, is used in producing gel air fresheners.
Moisture retention capability is one of the major USP of Cassia gum, which enables the fragrance to remain trapped for a long period. Gel air fresheners need exactly that – a gel base. This is where cassia gum comes in.
How are Gel-Based Air Fresheners Produced from Cassia Gum Powder?
Firstly, some cassia gum powder is mixed with carrageenan gum to obtain an elastic and cohesive gel, after which adequate water is added and the resulting mixture is boiled sufficiently. After sometime when the gel has gotten consistent, it’s removed from the heat and essential oil of the desired fragrance is added to it. The preparation is then allowed to cool off and through this, the fragrance gets trapped in the gel. It is at this stage that the finished product is finally ready to get packaged and then sent in market.
The air fresheners are made from high quality substances which gives it a long term existence. Also cassia gum powder can add to help cost reduction due to being available in nature easily. As a result the demand as well as need of cassia gum powder has increased.
