Fragrance and deodorant are being increasingly used in plastic products to enhance sale appeal, product acceptability and consumer appeal. Innovative applications with use of fragrance are being increasingly used as fragrance provides a positive impression of the product packed. Nothing rivals the sense of smell for making an instantaneous impression about a product’s flavor and freshness. Smell is the only one of the five senses that can trigger a true impulse reaction because it is the only sense processed in the brain’s limbic lobe. Limbic lobe is the section of the brain where emotion, hunger and impulses are processed and where memories and experiences of pleasure are stored

Fragrances are being used in stores to create a mood, such as chocolate chip cookie fragrance being used in a kitchen store and a chocolate fragrance masterbatch for use in polyethylene pckaging of chocolate flavored milkbased drinks.
Controlled fragrance diffusion systems are also being used in amusement park attractions for an “extrasensory” experience. Fragrances are used to scent toys, games, and novelties, such as floral fragrances in plastic stakes used to support flower stems. A new and growing market area is adding fragrance to closures of shampoo, laundry detergents, and other cleaning, health and beauty products in which consumers want to sample a product’s scent, but manufacturers want to avoid product tampering.
There are several applications that are increasingly finding usage of fragrance growing in their products. Some of them are:

		Food & beverage products such as biscuits/cookies, flavoured milk
		Household products such as disinfectants etc.
		Garbage bags to eliminate foul odour
		Masking of odour in computer rooms
		Prevention of foul odour arising from plastic additive such as sulfur in PVC
		Aroma in hospital rooms along with microbial resistance
		Finished products made from recycled plastic parts

Generally fragrance is incorporated in the plastic compound through masterbatches. One of the problems of incorporating fragrance in the masterbatch or in the plastic product is plastics is that typical polymer processing temperatures may cause fragrance components to flash off or may change the fragrance profile. Also most of the fragrance products have high volatility at higher temperatures, compeling the use of fragrance mostly in those plastics that have lower processing temperatures. Polyolefins and PVC are the obvious choice. Usage in higher temperature plastics such as nylon or PET would pose a problem.

How well the fragrance stays in the polymer matrix to be released slowly over time depend upon factors such as the compatibility of the fragrance with the base, the choice of polymer carrier, and residence time in the extruder. The masterbatch of fragrance typically should have a carrier that is highly porous in particle geometry and morphology. Microporous olefinic polymer careers can contain as high as 75% of fragrance chemical in the polymer. Slower release of fragrance in the plastic product is a key and is the technology barrier for common compounders to develop efficient and effective fragrance masterbatches.

Fragrance masterbatch should be still considered as specialty since there are more technology barriers of manufacturing. Besides the present global market is still small. However with increasing acceptance of fragrant plastic products to enhance the marketing of products, the market of fragrance masterbatch is bound to grow well in the coming years.