Biomass is a promising source of energy that can be substituted effectively for fossil fuels in many applications. In a developing country like India, people rely heavily on kerosene as a fuel for cooking and heating. Being derived from fossil fuels, kerosene is a finite resource and its cost is likely to increase in the future. Hence, the partial or complete replacement of kerosene is being considered in some jurisdictions. In this context, the use of vegetable based fuel as a substitute for kerosene fuel is explored here. Waste cooking oil and sesame oil are the biofuel feedstocks selected for consideration. Experiments are conducted using blends of vegetable based fuel with kerosene in a wick stove. Performance parameters like thermal efficiency, fuel consumption rate, and flame structure are studied. Parameters for such emissions as NOx, CO and CO2 are analyzed. The results indicate that operation using kerosene is superior in terms of performance but weaker in terms of emissions characteristics. It was observed that a blend with 50% vegetable esters results in significant emissions with only a marginal decrease in performance, suggesting this is an optimal or near optimal blend. Furthermore, of the blends with WCO and sesame oil esters, the 50% blend of sesame oil ester with kerosene exhibits better results. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.