Envisaged application of biodiesel in gas turbine engines or furnaces requires extensive tests on the deflagration properties of biodiesel. The laminar flame speeds of Palm Methyl Esters (PME) and blends of PME with conventional fuels are determined using the jet-wall stagnation flame configuration. The same technique is also used to measure the laminar flame speed of diesel, Jet-A1, n-heptane, acetone, methane and methane/acetone. The spray atomization characteristics of a plain-jet airblast atomizer are investigated using a phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) under non-reacting conditions. The droplet size and velocity distribution of biodiesels are compared to conventional fuels. For spray combustion investigations, a generic gas turbine-type combustor is developed to compare the spray flame established from PME, rapeseed methyl esters (RME), diesel, Jet-A1 and biodiesel blends. The spray droplet characteristics in the flame and the flow field in the combustor are investigated. Chemiluminescence imaging of OH* and CH* are applied to capture the global flame structure and heat release region. Flame spectroscopy and long bandpass filtered imaging at > 550 nm are performed to evaluate the tendency of soot formation. In general, biodiesels exhibit flame shapes and spray droplet characteristics that are comparable to conventional fuels. In spite of the higher fuel specific consumption, the emission of NOx is found to be lower for biodiesels compared to conventional fuels. The results show that biodiesels can potentially be used as alternative fuels for gas turbine operation.