Biodiesel fuel is found to be a promising alternative for the petroleum diesel based on the results published by the researchers for a decade. Biodiesel fuel is renewable and non degradable fuel. Many countries use biodiesel fuel for automotives to meet the crisis due to the depletion of the petroleum fuel and to meet the stringent emission norms. Various researches have been carried out with different biodiesel fuels with vegetable oil as the source and appreciable results were reported. Few biodiesel fuels which have been already tested are Jatropha, Pongamia, Mahua, neem, cotton seed, etc. In this experimental work, Adelfa biodiesel blend is used as the test fuel. The emission and performance characteristics were compared with three other different biodiesel fuel blends. Appreciable results imply that Adelfa biodiesel (Nerium oil methyl ester) can be a futuristic biodiesel fuel, which has a good compatibility with the direct injection (DI) diesel engine without any major modification. Moreover, Adelfa can be cultivated in a non agricultural land with fewer sources of water. It is widely spread over all major countries of Asia. Experimental investigations have been carried out on a single cylinder DI diesel engine with standard engine specifications. In this experimental work, various Adelfa biodiesel blends is compared with reference fuel (diesel) to choose the best blend which gives a closer performance to diesel. The comparative analysis with other biodiesel fuels has also been done and results have been discussed. © 2014 Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.