The present study compared the production, quality, and yield of charcoal manufactured from oil palm kernel shell (OPKS) via an improved pilot-scale continuous carbonisation system, the pilot rotary kiln (PRK), with a batch conventional carbonisation approach, the Taki carbonisation system (TCS). Previous investigations demonstrated that the PRK was highly energy-efficient at 55% compared to 38% in TCS. Furthermore, the PRK attained a higher OPKS-charcoal yield at 30 ± 2.4% than TCS, which produced 22 ± 1.7%. The improved system was a self-sustaining carbonisation process that could continuously run for eight hours, whereas the TCS required 72 hours to convert the same amount of OPKS into charcoal. A good quality