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Edible and non-edible oils are used for the production of biodiesel from the last so many years and these oils are extracted from their respective seeds. Jatropha oil is used as a feedstock to produce biodiesel for running the Compression Ignition engine. A statistical model is developed to interrelate the trans-esterification process variables for the biodiesel yield using design of experiment approach by selecting central composite design of a response surface methodology. Results shown in this paper indicate that the optimum observed yield of 95.5% has the following reaction conditions: Molar ratio 19.84 (% v/v), reaction time 3 h, reaction temperature 70°C, catalyst concentration 4.18 wt% and stirrer rpm 650. Also, the yield produced is higher when compared with 93.5% which was observed by Lee paper using the same methodology. Moreover, the fuel properties of Jatropha biodiesel are closer to the ASTM standard of biodiesel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]