A model for sphericosymmetric thin-flame combustion of a multi-component fuel droplet in a dilute spray has been developed using a unit cell approach. The gas-phase transport has been modelled as convective-diffusive while the liquid-phase processes as transient-diffusive. Convective heat and mass transfer condition has been used at the cell surface, The results indicate that evaporation and combustion characteristics of the droplet are strongly affected by the variation of both ambient conditions and convective transfer coefficients. Using the model, the effects of droplet spacing in spray, ambient oxidizer concentration, ambient temperature and pressure have been considered. Droplet life increases with decrease in droplet spacing. ambient temperature and ambient oxidizer concentration. However, droplet life has a weak dependence on ambient pressure. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.