Transesterification catalyst and method for producing biodiesel fuel using transesterification catalyst

A biodiesel fuel production method, comprising:

• obtaining a fatty acid alkyl ester through a transesterification reaction between an oil and an alcohol in the presence of a transesterification catalyst that comprises a titanium-containing mesoporous silica,
• wherein the titanium-containing mesoporous silica comprises Ti and Si as skeleton constituent elements, has a mesostructured cellular form (MCF), and has a pore diameter of 5 nm or greater;
• wherein a raw material oil of the biodiesel fuel comprises 1% to 10% of water and fatty acid relative to a total amount of oil in the raw material oil;
• wherein the biodiesel fuel production method does not comprise a step of removing a water content and a free fatty acid during transesterification;
• and
• wherein the catalyst has pore diameter of from 15 nm to 40 nm.