Castor bean seeds are rich in oil that can be explored for biodiesel production. Cocoa pod ash has been used effectively to catalyze the trans-esterification of the castor oil. The catalyst has been synthesized by thermal treatment and it was found to possess good features that is capable of trans-esterifying the extracted oil. The SEM morphology shows that the cocoa pod ash is highly porous and has a high surface area. Also, the FTIR performed on the catalyst indicate the presence of the active sites. These conditions resulted in 88 % yield of biodiesel being produced.