Scientific mapping using bibliometric data network analysis was applied to analyze research works related to lipases and their industrial applications, evaluating the current state of research, challenges, and opportunities in the use of these biocatalysts, based on the evaluation of a large number of publications on the topic, allowing a comprehensive systematic data analysis, which had not yet been conducted in relation to studies specifically covering lipases and their industrial applications. Thus, studies involving lipase enzymes published from 2018 to 2022 were accessed from the Web of Science database. The extracted records result in the analysis of terms of bibliographic compatibility among the articles, co-occurrence of keywords, and co-citation of journals using the VOSviewer algorithm in the construction of bibliometric maps. This systematic review analysis of 357 documents, including original and review articles, revealed studies inspired by lipase enzymes in the research period, showing that the development of research, together with different areas of knowledge, presents good results related to the applications of lipases, due to information synchronization. Furthermore, this review showed the main challenges in lipase applications regarding increased production and operational stability; establishing well-defined evaluation criteria, such as cultivation conditions, activity, biocatalyst stability, type of support and reactor; thermodynamic studies; reuse cycles; and it can assist in defining goals for the development of successful large-scale applications, showing several points for improvement of future studies on lipase enzymes.
Keywords: VOSviewer; bibliometric study; immobilization; industrial applications; lipase; scaling up.