The objective of the present work is to analyze the combustion characteristics of crude rice bran oil methyl ester (CRBME) blend (20% of CRBME with 80% no.2 diesel on volume basis) as a fuel in a stationary small duty direct injection (DI) compression ignition (CI) engine. When operating with CRBME blend the cylinder pressure was comparable to that of diesel. It was observed that the delay period and the maximum rate of pressure rise for CRBME blend were lower than those of diesel. The occurrence of maximum heat release rate advanced for CRBME blend with lesser magnitude when compared to diesel. CRBME blend requires more crank angle duration to release 50% & 90% of heat when compared with diesel. The brake specific fuel consumption of CRBME blend was found to be only marginally different from that of the diesel and its hourly fuel cost was higher than that of diesel. CRBME blend has lower smoke intensity and higher NOx emission than those of diesel. Since the measured parameters for CRBME blend differs only by a smaller magnitude, when compared with diesel, this investigation ensures the suitability of CRBME blend as fuel for CI engines with higher fuel cost (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.