Methyl palmitate is a long-chain methyl ester and a major constituent of palm-oil-derived biodiesel. A detailed mechanism for its combustion was recently developed by Herbinet and coworkers. This detailed mechanism involves 4442 species and 30,425 reactions, which makes it too complex for direct use in flame structure modeling, for instance, in studies of one-dimensional laminar opposed-flow diffusion flames. We used the improved directed relation graph method to derive a skeletal biodiesel combustion mechanism that retains the key properties of the detailed mechanism including auto-ignition behaviors and extinction temperature profiles of stoichiometric methyl palmitate/air mixture at pressures of 1100atm. The initial temperatures for ignition were from 600 to 1600K. This skeletal mechanism, containing only 402 species and 2503 reactions, was used to study methyl palmitate conversion rates and key species profiles in a jet-stirred reactor and an opposed-flow diffusion flame at atmospheric pressure and stoichiometric fuel/oxidizer conditions. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Combustion Science and Technology to view the free supplemental file.