Rheological characterization and activation energy values of binary mixtures of gellan

The present study determined the flow behavior and activation energy of high (HA) and low (LA) acyl gellan dispersions (0.2%) and their mixtures as a function of preparation temperature (25 and 90 °C) and of the presence or absence of Ca²⁺ (30 mM). Heated gellan mixtures containing calcium were acidified with δ-gluconolactone to obtain gels and determine linear viscoelasticity using the Kelvin–Voigt model. The studied dispersions showed non-Newtonian shear-thinning behavior. HA dispersions (with and without Ca²⁺) showed the highest activation energy values, 88.60 and 51.18 kJ/mol. Whereas, LA dispersions showed the lowest activation energy values, 3.73 and 9.19 kJ/mol. With respect to the rheological studies, it was observed that the relationships between HA and LA gellan did not affect the recovery percentages because similar values were obtained (86.90–90.00%), and this behavior along with the mean viscosity values obtained in the gel mixtures could indicate that the hydrogen bond formation between both gellan helix (HA, LA) is possible. These results can contribute to possible industrial applications of gellans in the development of new alimentary products.