Biodiesel is playing an important role in transport sector as a substitutefor petroleum fuels. The present study diagnoses the use of phenolicbiofuel blends namely, cardanol at higher fuel injection pressureon the performance and exhaust emissions of a direct injection, 4-stroke,single cylinder compression ignition engine. In this study, biofuel blendsused with three different percentage composition of cardanol such asB10M10, B20M10 and B30M10. The results are compared with base linediesel operation at 180 bar standard injection pressure. The experimentalresults show better engine performance and exhaust emission characteristicsfor the biofuel blends at 220 bar injection pressure. Biofuel blendB20M10 gives better performance and emission results when comparedto B30M10, and there is not much difference in the results when comparedto B10M10. B20M10 blend gives slightly lower brake thermalefficiency (BTE), sharp reduction in carbon monoxide (CO), unburnthydrocarbon (HC) and smoke emissions and drastic increase in oxides ofnitrogen emissions (NOx), when compared to baseline diesel operation.