Active solid base catalyst was prepared from waste eggshell and characterized by TGA-DTA and BET analysis, and then applied to produce methyl esters of soybean oil from soybean oil and methanol. The effects of reaction temperature, molar ratio of methanol to soybean oil, catalyst dosage (weight ratio of catalyst to oil) and reaction time on the transesterification performance were investigated. A high biodiesel yield (98.9%) can be obtained at a molar ratio of methanol to oil 10∶1, the mass fraction of catalyst 3.0%, firing temperature 950 ℃ for 3.0 h. Further, reusability of the prepared catalyst was investigated under the optimal reacting condition, the experimental results show that the catalyst maintained high catalytic activity and higher biodiesel yield (>98%) is obtained even after recyc1ing 13 times.