Numerical and experimental investigations highlighting the heat and mass transfer phenomena in a laminar co-flowing jet diffusion flame have been carried out. The fuel under consideration is ethylene, with ambient air as the co-flowing oxidizer. The diffusion flame is modeled using a 17-step reduced reaction mechanism with finite rate chemistry and the effects of soot on the radiative heat transfer of the flame have been demonstrated. Soot growth and oxidation processes are studied using a two-equation transport model, while the radiative heat transfer is modeled using the P1 approximation. An in-house finite volume code has been developed to solve the axi-symmetric Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical coordinates, along with the soot mass fraction, soot number density, energy and species conservation equations. Comparison of predictions with experimental results shows reasonable agreement with regard to the flame height and temperature distribution. A parametric study is also presented, which illustrates the effects of the fuel jet Reynolds number and the flow rate of co-flow air. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.