As many potential alternative jet fuels would be used in the in-service engine, such as the most promising Fischer Tropsch (F-T) jet fuel, it's necessary to test their performance in compared with petroleum derived jet fuel. In this study, atomization performance of F-T fuel and traditional RP-3 jet fuel were assessed based on three parameters including Sauter mean diameter, Spray cone angle, and Distribution index N. Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis is also conducted for kinetics analysis. TG experiments of F-T fuel and RP-3 were carried out in order to establish the relationship between atomization and TG characteristics. Burnout index B-f and uniform parameter a derived based on TG experiments were defined in this study. The qualitative relationship between B-f, a and atomization parameters were given for rapid evaluation of alternative jet fuel's atomization characteristics. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.