Calcium oxide (CaO) is a widely used solid catalyst for biodiesel production due to its cheap and easy availability. Chicken eggshell, which is otherwise a waste, is a valuable source material of CaO which can be utilized as an environment-friendly catalyst for biodiesel production. The present research work deals with the preparation and characterization of CaO nanoparticles from the waste chicken eggshell. The performance of CaO nanocatalyst was tested for its catalytic activity via transesterification of jatropha oil into biodiesel. To get a better biodiesel yield, different physicochemical parameters affecting the transesterification process such as methanol to oil molar ratio, catalyst loading, reaction temperature, reaction time, and agitation speed were optimized. The recorded optimum conditions were found to be 9:1 methanol to oil molar ratio with 5% catalyst loading, at a reaction temperature of 65°C, 3 h of reaction time, and 240 rpm. The maximum biodiesel yield obtained under these optimum conditions was 80.64%. The key fuel properties such as kinematic viscosity (5.2 mm2/s), flash point (99°C), calorific value (40.3 MJ/Kg) and density (0.86 g/cm3) resulted in good quality of biodiesel. The results obtained showed good fuel properties in the range as prescribed by ASTM for diesel.
