Abstract
The water footprint (WF) of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) from oil palm plantations and crude palm oil (CPO) from palm oil mills in southern and eastern Thailand were determined over 25years. Climatic conditions, soil characteristics, and the characteristics of oil palm growth were considered. The WF of FFBs was 1063m3/ton (t) on average. Green, blue, and grey waters comprised of 68, 18, and 14% of total WF, respectively. The oil palm plantations in Thailand required smaller amounts of indirect blue water. The average WF for producing a ton of CPO of seven mills was 5083m3. Most of the waters used in the mills originated from indirect green, blue and grey waters from the plantations. The direct blue water used in the mills had less impact on the total WF, lower than 1% of the total WF. Average percentages of green, blue, and grey waters of 69, 16, and 15% of total WF were determined for the mills, respectively. The water deprivation of the FFBs and CPO ranged from 0.73–12.9 and 3.44–58.3m3H2Oeq/t, respectively. In 2013, the CPO production in Thailand including green, blue, and grey waters from plantation and blue water from mills required 11,343millionm3 water. If the oil palm variety Suratthani 7 is used in the plantation, it would increase the yield from 15.2 to 22.8t FFBs/ha-year and decrease the WF to 888m3/t FFBs. The average value of the oil extraction rate (OER) of mills was 18.1%. With an increase in the OER of 1%, a reduction of the WF of 250m3/t CPO or 5.1% of total WF could be obtained.
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