Lama Cerda, MarioMontes Martínez, LeticiaFranco Ruiz, DanielFranco Uría, AmayaMoreira Martínez, Ramón Felipe2026-02-022026-02-022024-07-17Lama, M., Montes, L., Franco, D., Franco-Uría, A., & Moreira, R. (2024). Chitosan-based oleogels: Emulsion drying kinetics and physical, rheological, and textural characteristics of olive oil oleogels. Marine Drugs, 22(7), 318.1660-3397https://hdl.handle.net/10347/45616Oleogels are of high interest as promising substitutes for trans fats in foods. An emulsion-templated method was used to trap olive oil in the chitosan crosslinked with vanillin matrix. Oil in water emulsions (50:50 w/w) with different chitosan content (0.7 and 0.8% w/w) with a constant vanillin/chitosan ratio (1.3) were air-dried at different temperatures (50, 60, 70, and 80 °C) and freeze-dried (−26 °C and 0.1 mbar) to produce oleogels. Only falling rate periods were determined during air-drying kinetics and were successfully modeled with empirical and diffusional models. At a drying temperature of 70 °C, the drying kinetics were the fastest. The viscoelasticity of oleogels showed that the elastic modulus significantly increased after drying at 60 and 70 °C, and those dried at 50 °C and freeze-dried were weaker. All oleogels showed high oil binding capacity (>91%), but the highest values (>97%) were obtained in oleogels with a threshold elastic modulus (50,000 Pa). The oleogels’ color depended on the drying temperature and chitosan content (independent of the drying method). Significant differences were observed between air-dried and freeze-dried oleogels with respect to oxidative stability. Oxidation increased with the air-drying time regardless of chitosan content. The found results indicated that drying conditions must be carefully selected to produce oleogels with specific featureseng© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ColorMarine biopolymerNovel bioproductOil binding capacityOil oxidationTextureViscoelasticityWater diffusivityInvestigaciónjournal article10.3390/md22070318open access