In order to partially replace the demand of fossil diesel fuels, to reduce high import costs and to comply with environmental standards, sustainable policies have led to partially replace diesel fuel by biodiesel. However, other technologies, such as diesel-biodiesel-ethanol mixtures, are being investigated. The major challenge of these mixtures is to improve the miscibility and the stability of alcohol in diesel fuel. In this study, an original additive, from renewable compounds, improved the miscibility of anhydrous ethanol in diesel fuel with 15 per cent by volume of biodiesel and temperature in which stable mixtures were observed. Several physicochemical properties of the additivated mixtures were measured in a large range of ethanol concentration to evaluate aspects of consumption, combustion quality, behavior at low temperature, interaction between the fluid and the surface, and safety. The results showed that blends with, at least 1.0 per cent, by volume of additive and 20 per cent by volume of anhydrous ethanol are stable at temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius and respected most of the current Brazilian specifications for diesel fuel. Experimental tests on a compression ignition engine MWM 4.10 TCA (Euro III) were performed with these mixtures. The results showed that the diesel fuel substitution alters the characteristics of combustion: the increased ethanol content implied an increase of the ignition delay, a faster heat release and a decrease of maximum pressure. Despite these non-optimized conditions for injection and combustion, results showed a better conversion of ethanol chemical energy into brake power, in comparison to the values found in flex fuel spark ignition engine, in addition to a small increase in the indicated efficiency of the engine.