Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser Potential commercialisation of biocoke production in Malaysia—A best evidence review Adila Maisyarah Mansor a,b , Wai Lip Theo a,b , Jeng Shiun Lim a,b, ⁎ , Farid Nasir Ani c , Haslenda Hashim a,b , Wai Shin Ho a,b a Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Research Institute for Sustainable Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia b Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia c Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Biocoke Agricultural biomass Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Pyrolysis Fuel Metallurgical industry Renewable energy ABSTRACT Global depletion of fossil fuels, growing awareness on the effects of carbon emissions and greenhouse gases and, the need for renewable energy, has increased the attention towards biocoke research and active engagement with various research groups and industrial players. Biocoke production and utilisation is crucial as it con- tributes to the efficient management of agricultural residue and municipal solid waste. The technologies in- volved in the biocoke production and the viability of Malaysia's agricultural waste as a feedstock was described in this paper. In addition, the paper provided background information about the biocoke characteristics and the feedstocks that dictate quality. Comparisons of commercial coal coke and biocoke production technologies that may be applicable to Malaysia were also addressed. Moreover, the paper demonstrated the challenges towards Malaysia's biocoke commercialisation despite its viability from biomass feedstocks characteristics, availability, and evidence of calorific value estimations. 1. Introduction Global issues pertaining to fossil fuel depletion, energy price fluc- tuations, energy security, the carbon footprint of the energy industry and, climate change have demanded the attention towards renewable energy. Efforts to synthesise and utilise renewable energy was reported in Germany [1], Australia [2], Chile [3], China [4], Romania [5], Mexico [6], India [7], Small Island Developing States (SIDS) [8], and developing countries [9]. While some of these countries are progres- sively developing their expertise in wind [10] and solar power [11], biomass is one of the renewable energy resources with established conversion technologies and proven track record [12–15] of success. Concerns about the significant carbon footprint in the steel-making industry have to lead to innovation in biomass-based fuel and reducing agents [16]. For example, Malaysia's metallurgical industries recorded steel production of 7.5 million tonnes in 2004 [17], which contributed to the increased industrial carbon dioxide emissions trend as re- produced from Shahid et.al [18] as shown in Fig. 1. There have been many reports on the increased use of biocoke in the steel-making and metallurgy processes, however, its full utilisation is still not practical [19]. This might be due to its application was enabled by partial substitution of top coke with biocoke and partial replacement of pulverised coal with biocoke through injection [20]. Extensive re- views of the biocoke synthesis and utilisation in metallurgical industries were conducted by M.Wei [21] and Suopajarvi [22]. This paper pro- vided a comprehensive review of the current biocoke production technologies and the comparative viability of Malaysia's agricultural waste as diverse biocoke resources and feedstocks. In addition, this paper also addressed the challenges of biocoke application in Malaysia in terms of commercialisation barriers and competition with the com- mercial solid fuels for its full-scale implementation. 2. Biocoke feedstock Biocoke, as a sustainable biomass-derived carbonaceous solid fuel, is characterised by low sulphur content, high feedstock availability and has an economically efficient production process [23]. Hence, the characteristics are attributed to biocoke's production route of a biomass pyrolysis [24], which is an irreversible process in which organic ma- terials undergo thermochemical decomposition at an elevated tem- perature with the absence of oxygen [24]. Moreover, biocoke could also be formed by upgrading the pyrolysis oils from spent wheat grain and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.008 Received 10 February 2017; Received in revised form 20 November 2017; Accepted 9 March 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: jslim@cheme.utm.my, jslim@utm.my (J.S. Lim). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 90 (2018) 636–649 1364-0321/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T