Oxygenated diesel fuel blends have a potential to reduce the emission of particulate matter (PM) and to be an alternative to diesel fuel. This paper shows that pre-sulfated 1%Pt/gamma-Al2O3 and pre-sulfated 1%Pt-2%Sn/gamma-Al2O3 are very active at PM emissions abatement when, bioethanol or diesel/bioethanol are used as fuels. Results obtained showed that the addition of bioethanol to the diesel fuel may be necessary to decrease diesel PM generation during combustion and to enhance the rate of the oxidation of this diesel PM on pre-sulfated 1%Pt/gamma-Al2O3 and pre-sulfated 1%Pt-2%Sn/gamma-Al2O3. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.