Transesterification of soybean oil with methanol was carried out in the presence of CaO-MgO and KF-modified CaO-MgO catalysts at atmospheric pressure. While the methyl ester yield for the CaO-MgO catalyst with a ratio of 8:2 (CaO:MgO) was 63.6%, it was 97.9% for the KF-modified catalyst at a 2% catalyst to the reactants (methanol/oil mixture) weight ratio, a temperature of 65 degrees C, a methanol-soybean oil ratio of 9:1 and a reaction time of 2.5 h. The KF/CaO-MgO catalyst still yielded 86.7% after four successive uses. The catalytic performance of the KF/CaO-MgO catalyst was attributed to the formation of active KCaF3 and K2MgF4 centers. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.