The development and optimization of the synthesis of 1-glycerol monooleate over a zeolite type catalyst using a batch reactor have been carried out. A central composite design has been used in the synthesis of this surfactant. The variables chosen for the present study are temperature and catalyst concentration. The influences of both variables are positive. Response surface methodology has been found to represent adequately the yield of ester. The models obtained in this work have been tested in two scale-up experiments. Within the experimental range studied, these models showed good agreement with the experimental results.