TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Composition: The catalyst composition comprises 10-95 wt.% of the metal component, calculated on a dry basis as the metal oxide based on the total weight of the catalyst, and where the catalyst comprises 25-50 wt.% of carbonate, calculated on a dry basis as the metal carbonate based on the total weight of the catalyst. The catalyst is further characterized by an accelerated aging test value 5-10. Preferred Process: In the process of preparing a catalyst: the metal carbonate and/or metal hydroxide, and the additional component are combined by slurry-mixing (preferred), milling, kneading and/or dry or wet mixing; and optional drying is conducted at temperature greater than 100 degrees C, preferably 100-150 degrees C for 24 hours. The catalyst precursor is kneaded prior to the first thermal treatment. The step of shaping comprises extruding, pelletizing, beading and/or spray-drying. The first thermal treatment includes temperature greater than 500 degrees C, preferably 700-900 degrees C, optionally in the presence of steam, for 0.1-48 hours. The process of preparing a catalyst includes second thermal treatment conducted at 100-200 degrees C, preferably at 100-150 degrees C, optionally in the presence of steam for 24 hours. The catalyst composition is subjected to at least one further processing including grinding, milling, sieving or other particle size reduction method. Preferred Components: The metal component is at least one group IIA metal including calcium. The catalyst composition comprises at least one metal silicate. The additional component is silica, silica-alumina, alumina, cationic clays or anionic clays, aluminum stearate, surfactants, graphite, graphene, organic compounds, (poly)silicic acid, sodium silicate, silicon containing components, organic silicon sources, attapulgite, fly ash, ground glass, colloidal silica, microgranular silica, silicon oil and/or zeolites.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The step of contacting of the bio-feedstream and the catalyst composition occurs in the presence of: at least one organic compound that contains at least one hydroxy group/molecule; and at least one 1-10C alcohol. The bio-feedstream and catalyst composition are contacted at 25-300 degrees C, preferably 58-62 degrees C. The process of producing fuel comprises: contacting the fuel product with the homogenous acidic material, where contacting converts at least a portion of any calcium ions contained in the fuel products; and contacting with the homogenous acidic material converting at least a portion of any remaining free fatty acids, monoglycerides and/or diglycerides, to fuel products or biofuel, where contacting with the homogenous acidic material produces at least calcium sulfates and the process further comprises at least one filtering stage or step to remove at least a portion of the calcium sulfates. Preferred Components: The bio-feedstream comprises fatty acids and/or mono-, di- and/or triglycerides. The bio-feedstream is from those originating from biomass, plants, algae, other natural products, vegetable oils (including waste and fresh cooking oils), animal fats, tall oil, fatty acid distillates, preferably comprising: mono-, di- or tri-esters of 3-30C carboxylic acid, optionally branched and optionally containing at least one carbon-carbon double or unsaturated bonds and/or functional groups including hydroxy, aldehyde, ketone or amine groups at a terminal or internal position; components derived from biological or agricultural sources, and/or biomass; and/or 10 wt.% free fatty acids and/or up to 10 wt.% water, based on the total weight of the bio-feedstream. The alcohol is ethanol and/or methanol. The homogenous acidic material is sulfuric acid. EXAMPLE - Needle-like clay mineral composed of magnesium-aluminum silicate having a lateral dimension of 1 mu m, water (1.2 kg), and finely ground glass (0.2 kg) was added to calcium carbonate (2.3 kg) and attapulgite (0.63 kg), and the reaction mixture was mixed. Then hydroxymethylpropylcellulose (10 g) was added and kneading was continued until the desired density was reached. The reaction mixture was shaped using extrusion, and subsequently dried at 120 degrees C overnight and thermally treated in air at 850 degrees C for 2 hours (using a temperature ramp rate of 5 degrees C/minute), to obtain strong extrudates.