Biodiesel can be produced from J. curcas oil through a number of ways. Out of these, chemical (alkali/acid/supercritical alcohol-catalyzed) and enzymatic trans­esterification have shown promising results. Various process parameters which influence biodiesel yield are free fatty acid (FFA) content, oil-to-alcohol molar ratio, water content, enzyme loading, reaction temperature, stirring rate, and reac­tion time. Crude Jatropha oil has very high amount of FFA. Improper handling and inappropriate storage lead to an increase in FFA of the oil due to oxidation. Presence of high FFA content in the oil leads to soap formation during alkali-catalyzed trans­esterification. In order to bring down the FFA level to <1%, a pretreatment step has been put forward. But this process is time-consuming. On the other hand, in enzy­matic transesterification, the FFA is converted to biodiesel, and so, there is no need for the pretreatment step (Berchmans and Hirata 2008; Goodrum 2002).