TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: In the process the catalyst remains as a separate phase or a substantially separate phase during the step of contacting. Preferred Components: The group IIIA metal is aluminum. The group VIB metal is molybdenum. The group VA element is phosphorus. The metal oxide is preferably a metal of group VIB of the periodic table. Preferred Composition: The catalyst further comprises a co-promoter, where the co-promoter is: one or more metals of groups IA, IIA, IIIB or VIII of the periodic table; or calcium, potassium, lanthanum or nickel. The catalyst is a solid acid catalyst.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The step of contacting is conducted at 150-250 degrees C. The step of separating the fatty acid alkyl esters from the reaction products comprises contacting the reaction products with a non-polar solvent. Preferred Components: The fatty acid glycerides are obtained from a vegetable oil which is coconut oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, mustard oil, olive oil, cotton seed oil, rapeseed oil, margarine oil, jojoba oil, jatropha oil and/or karanja oil, an animal fat or a waste cooking oil. The alcohols are methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, pentanol, octanol, 2-ethylhexanol, decanol and/or dodecanol, where one of the alcohols has a carbon number of 1-50. The molar ratio of fatty acid glyceride to alcohol is 1:6-1:50. EXAMPLE - Finely powdered catalyst-2 (5 wt.%) (comprising hydrated alumina, ammonium heptamolybdate and phosphoric acid), soybean oil (33 g) and methanol were taken in a Teflon (RTM: Polytetrafluoroethylene) lined steel autoclave and reacted at 190 degrees C for 8 hours. Then the autoclave was cooled and the catalyst was separated by centrifugation followed by decantation. The entire liquid was subjected to vacuum distillation and excess, unused methanol was removed. Glycerol got settled at the bottom as a separate layer while the produced fatty acid methyl esters and unreacted oil floated above the glycerol layer. Petroleum ether (20-50 ml) was then added such that the esters and oil went into the petroleum ether layer. Glycerol remained as a separate layer which was then removed. The fatty acid methyl ester portion when analyzed by HPLC was found to contain 90.1 wt.% of fatty acid methyl esters.