Soybean oil (56-80 g) was reacted with methanol (40-106 mL) to produce fatty acid methyl ester in the presence of 1-6% acetic acid under subcritical condition at 250 degrees C. Stirring and loading of the reaction system affected the yield and severity of the process. The presence of acetic acid improved the yield of FAME from 32.1% to 89.5% at a methanol to oil molar ratio of 20 mL/g. Acetic acid was found to act strongly as an acid catalyst and to some extent improved the solubility between oil and methanol. Reaction pressure higher than the supercritical pressure of methanol (7.85 MPa) was not required to achieve high FAME yield (89.5-94.8%) in short time (30-60 min). (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.