Conditional moment closure (CMC) predictions for a turbulent piloted jet diffusion flame of methanol in air at velocities of 66.2 and 90.3 m s−1are presented. Predictions are compared with the experimental joint Raman-Rayleigh-LIF results of Masriet aland laminar flamelet calculations. Three comprehensive chemical mechanisms (SKELETAL, GRI-Mech and SUBGRI) are used to represent the chemistry of the methanol flame. The SKELETAL mechanism shows the best agreement among the various mechanisms employed. It is found that the SUBGRI mechanism reduces computational cost in terms of memory and CPU time without compromising results where the focus is on the main reactive chemistry.