A novel silica based melamine tri sulfonic acid catalyst was successfully prepared by chlorosulfonation of melamine at ambient conditions and applied to the transesterification of waste cooking oil for the production of biodiesel. Glycerol obtained as a side stream at the end of the transesterification reaction along with biodiesel molecules. However, world is facing the problems of disposal of glycerol obtained from biodiesel synthesis as a byproduct and simultaneously they are facing the problem of the abundance of feedstocks for biodiesel synthesis. Therefore, obtained crude glycerol was also successfully converted into triglyceride via esterification of lauric acid over same catalyst. Biodiesel yields were calculated using gas chromatography. Highest biodiesel (%) yield was observed up to 98.00%. Synthesized SMTSA revealed optimistic catalytic activity for transesterification of waste cooking oil with 5% catalyst dose (w/w). SMTSA catalyst was duly characterized by FF-IR, XRD, BET, TPD-NH3 and SEM analysis. While, synthesized biodiesel and triglycerides of lauric acid were well characterized by FT-IR as well as H-1 and C-13 NMR spectroscopic techniques. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.