Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to analyze the effect of four independent variables (molar ratio of methanol to oil, reaction temperature, pressure and time) on the yield of the biodiesel production via supercritical methanol (SCM) method. Waste vegetable oil (WVO) was used as raw material and transesterification reaction was performed in a supercritical batch reactor. The central composite rotatable design was used to maximize the yield of the biodiesel. The optimal values of variables were determined by RSM to be 33.8:1 (methanol/oil molar ratio) 271.1 degrees C, 23.1 MPa and 20.4 min reaction time for the maximum predicted yield of 95.27% (g/g). Moreover, an irreversible first order kinetic model was successfully correlated to the experimental transesterification data with 3.37 (s(-1)) and 31.71 (kJ/mol) as the frequency factor and activation energy of the process. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.