Biopolymers have gained significant attention due to their environmental advantages, with insects emerging as a promising but underutilized source of chitin and chitosan. In this study, chitosan was extracted from the larval exuviae of Tenebrio molitor through sequential demineralization, deproteinization, and deacetylation steps. For selected analyses, the extracted chitosan was further purified via reprecipitation from an acid solution using a basic precipitant (1 M NaOH). Chitosan was then characterized using chemical and instrumental methods. The results indicated that the chitosan had a medium degree of deacetylation (72.27%) and viscosity-average molecular weight (612 kDa), along with minimal ash (0.33%) and amino acid (0.14%) content, suggesting high product quality. FTIR analysis identified characteristic functional groups present, and SEM analysis highlighted a fibrous and porous microstructure in the purified chitosan. The prepared films exhibited favorable properties, including low thickness (0.0197 mm), high swelling degree (335.07%), moderate water solubility (46.99%), and moisture content of 32.39%, supporting their practical applicability. T. molitor exuviae thus represents a sustainable and environmentally friendly source of high-quality chitosan, with beneficial structural and functional properties, supporting its use in a wide array of value-added applications.

This study aims to compare and analyse the synthesis of microcapsules stabilized with chitosan/sodium dodecyl sulphate complex according to emulsion preparation methods. For this purpose, 20 % oil-in-water emulsions were obtained in two ways: by emulsifying the oil phase in aqueous solution of chitosan and its mixtures with anionic surfactant (?method I?) and by subsequently dropping chitosan into an already prepared emulsion stabilized by anionic surfactant (?method II?). Good stability, positive zeta potential of the emulsions and uniform droplet size distribution obtained with both methods, enabled the preparation of chitosan-based microcapsules which were separated by spray drying and investigated in terms of yield, moisture content, particle mean diameter and size distribution. The results showed a uniform particle size distribution and approximately equal mean diameters of emulsion droplets (? 8 ?m), i.e., suspension particles (? 5?m), while the microcapsule yields and moisture content for method I were 15 and 1.14 %, and for method II were 1.2 and 2.85 %, respectively. These results indicate that method I may be more suitable for use in the pharmaceutical and food industries for the production of chitosan microcapsules with oil content. The study confirmed that small variations in preparation can lead to large changes in the microencapsulation process and microcapsule structure.