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โครงการหนังสืออิเล็กทรอนิกส์ด้านการเกษตร เฉลิมพระเกียรติพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว

9.1.5 Enhancing water use efficiency in feedstock processing and ethanol conversion

Although, feedstock processing and ethanol conversion have very low contributions to the

WF of bioethanol as compared to the crop evapotranspiration, those industrial processes directly
involve blue water use which is recognized as the important element of WF as it is more

associated with the environmental impacts as compared to the green water. To reduce the WF
during industrial stages, the water reuse and recycling program has to be encouraged. For

example, the condensate recovery in sugar mills and in ethanol conversion plant e.g. distillation
stage can help not only saving the water use but also help saving energy. Brazil has accelerated

the basic guidelines of water management to sugar milling industries along with the new
technologies development such as dry cleaning of sugar cane to eliminate sugarcane washing,

treatment of vinasse by biodigestion technique to reduce the organic load and recirculating into the
process. Moreover, the appropriate treatment and utilization of the high organic wastewater

generated from the mills and from the ethanol conversions such as using it as agri-fertilizer can
help mitigate impacts on ecosystem due to wastewater release. Therefore, research and

development for the feedstock processing technologies and ethanol conversion technologies need
to be encouraged.

9.1.6 Development and promotion of WF label of agricultural products to raise

awareness in water consumption

In order to develop sustainable water consumption in the future, raising awareness on

water consumption for both producer and consumer sides is necessary. The development and
promotion of water footprint label could be one of the measures to make both producers and

consumers realize their contribution to water use and water impacts which in turn would lead to the
efficient and sustainable use of water resources in the future.

9.2 Recommendations for future research

1) Comprehensive assessment of WSI for the critical watersheds in Thailand revealed by the
study i.e. Mun, Chi, Chao Phraya, and Thachin watersheds. This is to understand the local

availability of the surface and ground water resources and the efficiency of the existing
irrigation systems compared to the water demands in those specific regions. This work can

be a part of a verification process of the WSI results with the actual situation. The
information from WSI assessment and the precise WSI will help policy makers understand

the real problems and causes of water stress in the studied regions and help to identify the
appropriate measures for enhancing water efficiency in practice.

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