The present study aims at providing an insight into the apparent kinetics and mass transfer studies on the synthesis of biodiesel from rubber seed oil using indigenously developed carbonaceous catalyst. The carbon-supported catalyst developed from waste biomass is used in transesterification of rubber seed oil and effects of synthesized porous catalyst on the kinetics and mass transfer has been extensively analyzed. The apparent kinetic models for individual steps have been developed following power law, Eley-Rideal (E-R) and Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) mechanisms. Moreover, effects of mass transfer and catalyst properties on the kinetics have been also evaluated. The experimental data has been gathered for studying the apparent kinetics at different temperatures using same catalyst and best fitting of the data in developed apparent kinetic models was estimated by regression coefficient (R-2) and comparing experimental and predicted concentrations of each reactant and product species. The analysis of the experimental data and fitting of kinetic models revealed that desorption of the glycerol from the catalyst active sites is the slowest step and controlling the overall rate of reaction. Moreover, mass transfer effects on the conversion and kinetics were negligible and conversion was solely controlled by the catalysts surface properties. (C) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.