This work reports on the preliminary results of using several acidic and basic solids, such as ZrO2, ZnO, SO42-/SnO2, SO42-/ZrO2, KNO3/KL zeolite and KNO3/ZrO, as heterogeneous catalysts for crude palm kernel oil (PKO) and crude coconut oil (CCO) transesterification with methanol. It was found that ZnO and SO42-/ZrO2 exhibited the highest activity for both PKO and CCO transesterification. In the case of SO42-/ZrO2, only 1 wt.% of this acidic solid was needed to catalyze the reaction, and resulted in fatty acid methyl esters content higher than 90%. Moreover, a study of the catalyst's recyclability indicated that the spent SO42-/ZrO cannot be directly reused for the transesterification. However, this spent catalyst can be easily regenerated and the same activity can be obtained. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.