title: Water footprints of products of oil palm plantations and palm oil mills in Thailand.
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 25 years. Climatic conditions, soil characteristics, and the characteristics of oil palm growth were considered. The WF of FFBs was 1063 m(3)/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 5083 m(3). 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 3.44-58.3 m(3)H2Oeq/t, respectively. In 2013, the CPO production in Thailand including green, blue, and grey waters from plantation and blue water from mills required 11,343 million m(3) water. If the oil palm variety Suratthani 7 is used in the plantation, it would increase the yield from 15.2 to 22.8 t FFBs/ha-year and decrease the WF to 888 m(3)/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 250 m(3)/t CPO or 5.1% of total WF could be obtained.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai 90112, Thailand.
authors.forename: Phetrada
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Suttayakul
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial Biotechnology, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai 90112, Thailand.
authors.forename: Aran
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: H-Kittikun
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai 90112, Thailand.
authors.forename: Chaisri
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Suksaroj
authors.affiliation: National Metal and Materials Technology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
authors.forename: Jitti
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mungkalasiri
authors.affiliation: National Metal and Materials Technology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
authors.forename: Ruthairat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wisansuwannakorn
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai 90112, Thailand; Center of Excellence on Harzardous Substance Management (HSM), Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Electronic address: mcharongpun@eng.psu.ac.th.
authors.forename: Charongpun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Musikavong
keywords: Crop water requirement; Crude palm oil; Fresh fruit bunches; Soil texture; Water deprivation