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Review
. 2021 May 22;26(11):3095.
doi: 10.3390/molecules26113095.

Perfume and Flavor Engineering: A Chemical Engineering Perspective

Affiliations
Review

Perfume and Flavor Engineering: A Chemical Engineering Perspective

Alírio E Rodrigues et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

In the last two decades, scientific methodologies for the prediction of the design, performance and classification of fragrance mixtures have been developed at the Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering. This review intends to give an overview of such developments. It all started with the question: what do we smell? The Perfumery Ternary Diagram enables us to determine the dominant odor for each perfume composition. Evaporation and 1D diffusion model is analyzed based on vapor-liquid equilibrium and Fick's law for diffusion giving access to perfume performance parameters. The effect of matrix and skin is addressed and the trail of perfumes analyzed. Classification of perfumes with the perfumery radar is discussed. The methodology is extended to flavor and taste engineering. Finally, future research directions are suggested.

Keywords: classification of perfumes; effect of matrix; evaporation and diffusion of perfumes; flavor engineering; flavors and fragrances; perfume engineering; perfume performance; perfumery radar; perfumery ternary diagram; trail of perfumes.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The structure of a perfume represented by Carles’ pyramid.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical engineering today: ChE = M2P2E [5] and perfume engineering as a branch of product engineering [6].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Measurement of ODT by a panel using an olfactometer at LSRE.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Sensory dose/response curve with a scale of odor intensity.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Odor Intensity Standard Curves in LMS scale versus the logarithm of fragrance concentration in air (Reprinted with permission from Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2019, 58, 15036−15044. Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Simplified steps in odor detection: air and odorant molecules (C), mucus (B) and nasal epithelium (A).
Figure 7
Figure 7
The perfumery ternary diagram: combining perfume pyramid structure with the ternary phase diagram.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The effect of base note on odor zones on odor zones: left A—limonene (squares); B—geraniol (triangles); C—vanillin (circles); S—ethanol (losange); right—the base note C tonalide is not perceived and ethanol is (Reprinted with permission from AIChEJ, 2009, 55, 15. John Wiley and Sons).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Perfume performance parameters (Reprinted with permission from AIChEJ, 2013, 59, 15. John Wiley and Sons).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Blooming, development and lasting phases.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Diffusion tube with volume element of thickness Δz.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Time evolution of OV near the source- we smell limonene first and geraniol after 1 h (a) and iso-OV lines in a plot distance vs. time (b). Reprinted with permission from Chem. Eng. Sci. 2009, 64, 2570–2580, 2009, Elsevier.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Evaporation lines of a perfume mixture near the source in PTD and PQD. Reprinted with permission from Chem. Eng. Sci. 2009, 64, 2570–2580, Elsevier.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Perfumery radar of perfumes: left—L’ Air du temps (Nina Ricci); right—Addict-Eau de Toillete (Dior) (Reprinted (adapted) with permission from Perfumery radar: a predictive tool for perfume family classification, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2010. Copyright 2010, American Chemical Society).
Figure 15
Figure 15
Perfumery radar of Gloria (Cacherel) at time t = 0 (left) and after t = 60 s (right). (Reprinted (adapted) with permission from Perfumery radar: a predictive tool for perfume family classification, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2010. Copyright 2010, American Chemical Society).
Figure 16
Figure 16
Franz cell for permeation studies of fragrance mixtures (Reprinted with permission from Elsevier, Int. Journal of Biological Macromolecules 2020, 147, 150–159).
Figure 17
Figure 17
Sketch of the Franz cell system.
Figure 18
Figure 18
Cumulative amount of linalool in the receptor compartment versus time for the infinite-dose experiment (Reprinted (adapted) with permission from Evaporation and permeation of fragrance applied to the skin, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2019, 58, 9644–9650. Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society).
Figure 19
Figure 19
Diffusion tube and moving source.
Figure 20
Figure 20
Simulated and experimental gas concentration profiles of a-pinene versus distance at t = 100 s of a source moving at 1.34 × 10−2 m/s and Dα-pin = 6.04 × 10−6 m2/s (Reprinted with permission from AIChEJ 2018, 64, 2890–2897, John Wiley and Sons).
Figure 21
Figure 21
3D model- moving source at 1.50 m (a) and concentration profiles for 3 values of diffusivity evaluated at z = 1.60 m and t = 200 s (b) (Reprinted with permission from AIChEJ 2018, 64, 2890–2897. John Wiley and Sons).
Figure 22
Figure 22
Odor and flavor radars for peach juice (experimental; shaded area–predicted). Reprinted with permission from Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2018, 57, 8115−8123 Copyright 2018, American Chemical Society).
Figure 23
Figure 23
Contributors for research in Perfume Engineering started by Alírio Rodrigues and Vera Mata at LSRE.

References

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