Pd/C catalyzed deoxygenation of castor oil fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), composed primarily from methyl ricinoleate, has been explored and optimized. Castor oil is a promising low cost feed stock for production of fuels. Under mild hydrogen pressure in the presence of hexane at supercritical conditions the main product was identified as heptadecane (a major diesel fuel component) using GC, GC-MS and FT-IR. Heptadecane formation proceeds not only by deoxygenation via decarbonylation, but also by hydrogenation of the double bond and the hydroxyl group of methyl ricinoleate. Based on intermediates identified in the reaction mixture, a plausible molecular mechanism for the catalytic deoxygenation process was proposed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.