A systematic study on alcoholysis of soybean oil in the presence of Sn(IV) complexes, to produce fatty acid alkyl esters, was carried out under different reaction conditions. Firstly, two different types of reactors have been employed and compared: an open glass reactor, equipped with a reflux condenser, and a closed steel reactor. Results point out that the use of the closed steel reactor is advantageous, since higher yields are obtained in shorter reaction times. In the sequence, five alcohols have been used as alcoholysis agents (methanol, ethanol, n-butanol, iso-propanol, and iso-butanol) in the presence of dibutyl tin dilaurate as catalyst. Under these conditions and using only a slight excess of alcohol, high yields of fatty acid alkyl esters were obtained. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.