Cancel Odors in an Instant: The R&D Story Behind NIOCAN

As people travel and interact more frequently, everyday odors, including body odor, perfume, food waste, and pet odors, can significantly affect the comfort of a space and the impressions people form.
NIOCAN, a deodorizing and sanitizing spray, was created to bring the deodorization technologies developed by the DKS Group into everyday living spaces and address these familiar concerns.

NIOCAN has its roots in professional deodorization technologies used in locations where strong odors occur, such as wastewater treatment plants and commercial facilities. A variety of deodorization methods are used at these sites according to the type and source of the odor. Products intended for homes, hotels, and other everyday environments, however, must also offer safety, ease of use, and comfort.

Drawing on the expertise gained through professional applications, we set out to develop a product capable of addressing the wide range of odors encountered in daily life, while making the technology easy to use in homes and accommodation facilities.

NIOCAN uses an odor-neutralization method based on natural, plant-derived essential oils. Rather than masking malodors with a strong fragrance, as conventional air fresheners often do, this approach combines malodor compounds with aromatic constituents derived from essential oils in carefully selected proportions, making unpleasant odors less noticeable.

Living spaces often contain a complex mixture of odor compounds from sources such as food waste, urine, pets, and perspiration. To address this diversity, certified Olfactory Measurement Operator and fragrance specialists worked together to formulate natural essential oils in an optimized balance. Plant-derived ingredients also contain phytoncides, which are associated with the perceived comfort of forest environments, as well as other constituents thought to play a role in natural purification processes.

By harnessing the characteristics of these naturally derived ingredients, we are continuing to verify product safety with the goal of providing a product suitable for everyday use.

Odor perception varies from person to person, and conventional countermeasures have often relied on empirical approaches, such as masking an odor with a stronger fragrance or reducing the sense of discomfort it causes. With NIOCAN, we place emphasis not only on sensory perception but also on evaluating changes in the odor-causing compounds themselves.

For example, we conducted a deodorization test using trimethylamine (TMA), one of the compounds responsible for the smell of decomposing fish. A test odor was prepared at a specified concentration in an odor-sampling bag. After NIOCAN was sprayed into the bag, it was left at room temperature for 30 minutes, followed by detector-tube measurement and sensory evaluation. The results confirmed a decrease in TMA concentration, a reduction in odor intensity, and an improvement in perceived unpleasantness. These findings demonstrate that the deodorizing effect on an odor-causing compound can be evaluated scientifically, rather than attributed solely to fragrance masking.

By assessing everyday odors through both instrumental measurements and human olfactory evaluation, NIOCAN goes beyond treating odor as a matter of perception alone. In this way, it helps create more comfortable environments in homes, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, senior care facilities, and other everyday spaces.

The data shown are typical values based on specific measurement conditions and are not guaranteed.