Minimizing the biodiesel production cost by using inexpensive and inedible feedstock like Jatropha oil is more practical as it is readily available and also not competes with edible oils. However, Jatropha oil contains high free fatty acid content, which causes operational problems in biodiesel production via alkaline-based transesterification reaction. This study aims to design a biodiesel production process from Jatropha oil. A hydrolysis reactor is applied to convert triglyceride in Jatropha oil to fatty acid. The fatty acid obtained then reacts with methanol to produce methyl ester (biodiesel product) using an esterification process. A reactive distillation is employed to intensify reaction and separation tasks for the esterification process. In order to minimize energy consumption, the heat integration of a reactive distillation process is considered. The simulation result using a flowsheet simulator indicates that the heat-integrated reactive distillation can improve the biodiesel production by minimizing the energy requirements, compared with a conventional process. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.