4.2 CASE STUDY: LIPASES4.2.1 BackgroundLipases are a type of hydrolases that catalyze the conversion of fats/oils into free fatty acids and glycerol. Lipases rank after proteases and carbohydrates in the global enzyme market and represent approximately 5% of the enzyme market. They constitute one of the most important groups of biocatalysts for biological applications and are quite important enzymes from both a physiological and biotechnological point of view. The growing interest in lipases is mainly due to the wide industrial applications of this enzyme, including the formulation of detergents, the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, the degradation of oils/fats and the production of cosmetics. Lipases currently attract great attention mainly due to their unique characteristics: substrate specificity, regiospecificity, and chiral selectivity (Castro-Ochoa et al., 2005). Like carbohydrates and proteases, lipases of microbial origin enjoy greater industrial importance because they are more stable (compared to lipases of plant and animal origin) and can be obtained in large quantities at relatively low costs. Due to the characteristics, new biotechnological applications have been established using lipases for the synthesis of biopolymers and the production of biodiesel, enantiopures, biosensors and aromatic compounds (Bornscheuer et al., 2002). 4.2.2 Sources Lipases are produced by various plants , animals and microbes. Lipases of animal origin include human pancreatic lipase, horse pancreatic lipase, porcine pancreatic lipase, and guinea pig pancreatic lipase. The plant sources rich in Lipases are Avocado, Walnut, Coconut, Lentils, Chickpeas, Papaya, Mung Bean, Oats and Eggplant. Lipases of microbial origin, predominantly bacterial and fungal, represent the...... average class of the most used paper . ...the number of publications on the same has grown since 1990, with the maximum publications coming from Brazil. CSTR is Bioreactor's preferred choice for industrial-scale enzyme production. It is an easily constructed, versatile and economical reactor, its well-mixed nature allows direct control of the temperature and pH of the reaction and of the feeding or removal of gases and can be easily adapted for automatic control in general allowing rapid response to changes in operating conditions. Additionally, the CSTR is relatively easy to maintain and operate. The main obstacles to the exploration of commercial enzymes are their yield, stability, specificity and production cost. Newer enzymes for use in commercial applications with desirable biochemical and physicochemical characteristics and low production costs have been the focus of much research today.