Use of vegetable oils (Jatropa oil) in diesel engines results increased in engine performance to take advantage of a global trend toward alternatives to fossil fuels, this work is focused on appropriation of the performance characteristics of a single cylinder diesel engine fuelled with conventional fuel and biofuels under steady conditions. Methyl esters of jatropha oil obtained from the transesterification process was tested as biodiesel fuel blends of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% with petroleum diesel fuel. A stationary engine was mounted on a test bench and prepared for operating in steady conditions. The results suggested that the use of the diesel blends containing non-edible oil is a potential alternative for diesel fuel. All the blends showed reasonable efficiencies. Experimental results indicated that B20 have better engine performance compared with diesel.