Summary The dependence on petroleum has been escalating owing to the proliferation of energy demands and population. Environmental degradation and depletion of petroleum resources are motivated to search the clean energy fuels for diesel engines. Recent studies have been advocated biodiesel as a strong contender to diesel fuel for diesel engines. Despite the significant development in the biodiesel field, there are still issues related to the usage of biodiesel in diesel engines. To overcome these issues, n‐butanol is identified as a biofuel additive that can improve the properties of biodiesel and its blends. The objective of this review is to compare the effect of the butanol–biodiesel (Bu/B), butanol‐biodiesel‐diesel (Bu/B/D), and biodiesel‐diesel (B/D) blends on the performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of diesel engines. Performance characteristics for Bu/B/D blends were observed remarkable than Bu/B and B/D blends, however, slightly inferior to diesel fuel. Combustion parameters of Bu/B/D blends were analogous to B/D blends however superior to Bu/B. Emission characteristics were reduced to a great extent with Bu/B/D blends as compared to all other sample fuels. This article also analyses the overview of biobutanol production from lignocellulosic biomass by acetone‐butanol‐ethanol fermentation process. Finally, this study reports that butanol has the potential, which can help to sustain engine performance and mitigate emissions. Among all the Bu/B, Bu/B/D, and B/D blends, Bu/B/D blends provide better fuel quality and significant results from the diesel engine characteristics; however, up to 20 blending of butanol with B/D blends showed better results after that engine performance decreased.
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