Abstract: Biodiesel is an alternative sustainable energy source and can be utilized in the compression ignition engine without any changes in the engine design. This research work focuses on the preparation of Calophyllum inophyllum methyl ester through two steps of transesterification process and its implementation in common rail direct injection diesel engines under various fuel injection strategies. At the initial stage of the current research work, two biodiesel blends of 10 vol% and 20 vol% with remaining quantity as diesel have been used as fuel in a diesel engine at a fuel injection pressure of 600 bar at 5%, 10% and 15% pilot injection variations. In the second stage, the study has been extended for the same strategies of injecting the fuel at the rates of 10% and 20% exhaust gas recirculation. All the experimental results are compared with diesel fuel at an injection pressure of 600 bar with 10% pilot injection. The experimental results revealed that an increase in the blend ratio of biodiesel enhances the combustion, performance characteristics and proliferation of pilot injection from 5 to 15% facilitates spontaneous and complete combustion. It is observed that 15% pilot injection quantity of 20 vol% Calophyllum inophyllum methyl ester blend has shown the best performance among the test samples with other injection strategies. The results also showed that the implementation of exhaust gas recirculation at 10% and 20% rates during diesel engine operation is evident in lower performance characteristics with a significant impact on oxides of nitrogen and carbon dioxide emissions. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.