The present work examines the prospect of using 100% Calophyllum inophyllum methyl ester as a promising alternative fuel for future generation. In this research work, a strategy is developed to reduce NOx emissions of Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel fuelled diesel engine by varying the injection timing between 21 degrees, 23 degrees and 25 degrees bTDC and by admitting exhaust gas recirculation at the rate of 10%, 20% and 30%. The experiments are conducted in a four stroke diesel engine using 100% Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel and the engine characteristics are compared with neat diesel engine. Certain important parameters like brake specific energy consumption, brake thermal efficiency, heat release rate, in-cylinder pressure, exhaust emissions including NOx and smoke density are evaluated for various injection timing and EGR rates. Retardation of injection timing to 21 bTDC reduces the NOx emissions very marginally with significant loss in engine performance. It is found that 10% exhaust gas recirculation rate could reduce the NOx emissions more effectively which would meet the proposed Euro V standards. Thus it is observed that exhaust gas recirculation is an effective method to control emissions of 100% Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel without much compromise in engine efficiency when compared to the influence of injection timing. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.