Abstract The study is aimed to evaluate the combustion and emission characteristics of a partially premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) engine with diesel and ethanol fuels. Ethanol was fumigated with preheated intake air at 40°C and inducted into the intake manifold of the test engine. Experimental tests were carried out with varying proportions of premixed ethanol at different engine loading conditions of 1, 2, 3, and 4 bar brake mean effective pressures (BMEP). It was explored that at lower BMEP, oxides of nitrogen (NOx) were decreased with an increment of premixed ethanol, however, at higher BMEP, the emissions increased. At all loads, smoke opacity decreased exceedingly with increasing premixed ethanol share. At part loads, hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were increased because of the high latent heat of vaporization of ethanol. Net heat release rate and in-cylinder pressure rise were found to be increased with an increasing engine load. Overall, it could be determined that the performance of the PCCI engine with ethanol fumigation is comparable with the conventional diesel fuel operation.