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Crude and distilled palm oil methyl esters conveniently known as palm diesel have been successfully evaluated as diesel substitute. Crude palm oil methyl esters are produced from transesterification of crude palm oil with minor components such as carotenes and vitamin E still intact and they are reddish in colour. The distilled palm oil methyl esters are obtained after the recovery of minor components (e.g. Carotenes and vitamin E) From the crude palm oil methyl esters. These valuable minor components are preferably to be recovered as they can be sold as value-added products before they are burnt together with the methyl esters as fuel. Although both possesses fuel characteristics which are comparable to those of petroleum diesel, crude palm oil methyl esters are found to exhibit better oxidative stability (rancimat induction period >25 h) than distilled palm oil methyl esters (about 3.5 h). It is attributed to the presence of vitamin E (about 600 ppm), a natural antioxidant in the former. While the distilled palm oil methyl esters contain practically no vitamin E (

Methyl esters of vegetable oils have been successfully evaluated as diesel substitute. In the present study, other alkyl esters, namely ethyl and isopropyl esters of crude palm oil and crude palm stearin were synthesized via chemical transesterification reactions and subsequently evaluated for their fuel properties. Generally, these alkyl esters exhibit higher viscosity (4.4×10 −6 m 2 /s–5.2×10 −6 m 2 /s) compared to that of petroleum diesel (4.0×10 −6 m 2 /s). However, compared to petroleum diesel, these alkyl esters exhibit acceptable gross heat of combustion (39–41 MJ/kg). Originated from renewable origin, the low sulfur content in alkyl esters emits much lower SO 2 . These alkyl esters are much safer than petroleum diesel in terms of safety for storage and transportation as they possess high flash points. They may find applications in the fuel industry besides utilization as oleochemicals.