Biosensors and Other More Traditional Methods for the Development of Kinetic Models to Describe the Isothermal Rancidification Process in Several Kinds of Olive Oils

The kinetic study of the thermal oxidative rancidification of extra-virgin olive oils at 98 °C carried out according to the A.O.M. (American Oxygen Method - official method) of the A.O.C.S. (American Oil Chemistry Society) was completed. The orders of magnitude for the values of the kinetic rate constant k (10-4 min-1) for this process, the activation energy Ea (38 kJ mol-1) and the reaction order n (1st order) were definitively established. A best model mechanism for the main processes occurring during oil rancidification was also proposed. The same procedure was successfully extended also to two other olive oil types: olive oil and olive oil residue.