White mud is modified by acetic acid and then activated at 700 degrees C to catalyze transesterification. After modification and activation, the prepared catalyst (labeled as MWM-700) mainly consists of calcium oxide with a surface area of 7.97 m(2) g(-1) and basic strength of 9.8 < H_ < 15.0. Under the optimized condition of the catalyst added amount of 6 wt%, molar ratio of methanol to oil of 15, reaction temperature of 64 degrees C and reaction time of 150 min, the MWM-700 catalyzed transesterification of peanut oil with methanol supplies an efficiency of 97.43%. With the seventh time usage, a catalytic efficiency of 8933% is still supplied. Meanwhile, the repeated experiments are conducted to confirm the reproducibility and reliability of the experimental results. The chemical structure and physical properties of the produced biodiesel are detected, which are in accordance with ASTM D 6751. Finally, the kinetic parameters of the MWM-700 catalyzed transesterification are calculated, where the activation energy is 66.82 kJ mol(-1) and the pre-exponential factor is 1.36 x 10(9) min(-1). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.