Hydrogen produced from waste cooking oil is a meaningful challenge work in the fields of energy and environment. In view of the fact that the acidic waste cooking oil is easily converted to ester compounds by esterification, in this work, hydrogen production by autothermal reforming of ethyl acetate as a simple typical ester compound over NixLa10-xOy/Al2O3 catalysts was studied with the aim at disclosing the feasibility of hydrogen production from waste cooking oil. Effects of Ni/La molar ratios, reaction temperature, calcination temperature and surface acidity on the catalytic performance were systematically investigated. Results showed that the catalyst with the Ni/La molar ratio of 3:7 exhibited the best catalytic performance at the active reaction temperature range of 700-800 degrees C, and the Ni3La7Oy/Al2O3 catalyst calcined at 700 degrees C obtained 87% H-2 selectivity, 62% CO selectivity, 32% CO2 selectivity, low selectivity to CH4, 94.49% carbon balance and high stability at 750 degrees C. Moreover, low acidity promoted the autothermal reforming reaction, and the optimal Ni3La7Oy/Al2O3 catalyst was also experimentally confirmed that it was effective for autothermal reforming of waste cooking oil into hydrogen. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.