Palm oil is one of effective vegetable oils as alternative diesel fuel because of the high productivity and low cost. In this study, to utilize palm oil methyl ester (PME) as a diesel fuel, the engine performance and exhaust emissions for PME are investigated using a DI diesel engine compared with rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME), soybean oil methyl ester (SME) and gas oil. As the results, PME has shorter ignition delay compared with RME, SME and gas oil. Brake thermal efficiency with PME is about the same as those with RME, SME and gas oil. NOx and Smoke emissions from PME simultaneously are lower than those from gas oil. Therefore, PME can be used as an alternative fuel of petroleum diesel fuels.