Bioreactors with immobilized lipases: state of the art.

This review attempts to provide an updated compilation of studies reported in the literature pertaining to reactors containing lipases in immobilized forms, in a way that helps the reader direct a bibliographic search and develop an integrated perspective of the subject. Highlights are given to industrial applications of lipases (including control and economic considerations), as well as to methods of immobilization and configurations of reactors in which lipases are used. Features associated with immobilized lipase kinetics such as enzyme activities, adsorption properties, optimum operating conditions, and estimates of the lumped parameters in classical kinetic formulations (Michaelis-Menten model for enzyme action and first-order model for enzyme decay) are presented in the text in a systematic tabular form.