Katalis heterogen telah dikembangkan dalam produksi biodiesel. Katalis heterogen CaO dibuat melalui proses kalsinasi dari salah satu sumber CaCO3 yaitu cangkang kepiting. Pembuatan katalis heterogen CaO telah berhasil dilakukan selanjutnya diaktivasi menggunakan larutan KOH dan diembankan ?-Al2O3, secara metode padat-padat. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengetahui karakteristik katalis heterogen CaO teraktivasi terembankan ?-Al2O3 (CaO/?-Al2O3) serta mengetahui kinerja katalis tersebut dalam mengkonversi asam oleat menjadi biodiesel. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa katalis dengan karakteristik terbaik ditunjukkan oleh CaO/?-Al2O3 100:7 yang memiliki nilai kebasaan permukaan sebesar 20,9532 mmol g-1 dengan jumlah situs basa 12,6181x1019 atom g-1, dan luas permukaan spesifik sebesar 42,0979 m2/g. Hasil pemanfaatan katalis CaO/?-Al2O3 untuk mengkonversi asam oleat menjadi biodiesel, diperoleh konsentrasi optimum adalah 5%, rasio molar asam oleat/metanol optimum 1:9, dan waktu reaksi optimum 120 menit mampu mengkonversi asam oleat menjadi biodiesel dengan yield 89,80%.Karakteristik biodiesel hasil konversi memenuhi standar yang ditetapkan SNI 7182-2015, yaitu densitas (40oC) 863 kg/m3, viskositas kinematik (40oC) 4,8 cSt, kadar air 0,03%, dan bilangan iod 35,3562 g I2/100g. Kata kunci: asam oleat, biodiesel, CaO/?-Al2O3, katalis heterogen. ABSTRACT Heterogeneous catalysts are commonly used in biodiesel production. The CaO heterogeneous catalyst can be prepared by calcination process from one source of CaCO3 prepared from crab shell. The preparation of heterogeneous catalyst was successfully carried out by activation with KOH and doped with ?-Al2O3. The purpose of this study is to determine the characteristics of the CaO/?-Al2O3heterogeneous catalyst and the performance of the catalyst for converting oleic acid into biodiesel. The results of this study that the best characteristics of catalyst were shown by CaO/?-Al2O3 100:7, which has a surface basicity was 20,9532 mmol g-1 with active sites 12,6181x1019atom g-1, and specific surface area of ??42.0979 m2/g. The results of using CaO /?-Al2O3 catalyst for converting oleic acid into biodiesel with the optimum concentration was 5%, the optimum oil/methanol molar ratio of 1:9, and the optimum reaction time of 120 minutes for converting oleic acid into biodiesel with the yield of 89.80%. The characteristics of the final biodiesel obtained had met the Indonesian National Standard (SNI 7182-2015) with density (at 40oC), kinematic viscosity (at 40oC), water content, iodine value were 863 kg/m3; 4.8 cSt; 0.039%, and 35.3562 g I2/100g, respectively. Keywords: CaO/?-Al2O3, oleic acid,biodiesel, heterogeneous catalyst.