Towards the effort of reducing pollutant emissions, especially soot and nitrogen oxides, from direct injection Diesel engines, engineers have proposed various solutions, one of which is the use of a gaseous fuel as a partial supplement for liquid Diesel fuel. These engines are known as dual fuel combustion engines, i.e. they use conventional Diesel fuel and a gaseous fuel as well. This technology is currently reintroduced, associated with efforts to overcome various difficulties of HCCI engines, using various fuels. The use of natural gas as an alternative fuel is a promising solution. The potential benefits of using natural gas in Diesel engines are both economical and environmental. The high autoignition temperature of natural gas is a serious advantage since the compression ratio of conventional Diesel engines can be maintained. The present contribution describes an experimental investigation conducted on a single cylinder DI Diesel engine, which has been properly modified to operate under dual fuel conditions. The primary amount of fuel is the gaseous one, which is ignited by a pilot Diesel liquid injection. Comparative results are given for various engine speeds and loads for conventional Diesel and dual fuel operation, revealing the effect of dual fuel combustion on engine performance and exhaust emissions. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.