Estimación de la Huella Hídrica de los cultivos de palma africana y maíz duro en la provincia de Los Ríos y caña de azúcar en la provincia del Guayas para la producción de biocombustibles

Abstract

The search for alternative energy sources that substitute for oil, such as biofuels, has drawn attention to Ecuador, which through ECOPAIS has begun to promote crops for this purpose and replace 5% to base gasoline. In this context, this study focuses on estimating the water footprint (WF) of the African palm, hard corn and sugarcane crops developed in the provinces of Los Ríos and Guayas, located on the Ecuadorian coast; the aim was to determine the crop with better water use efficiency to produce biofuels. For this, it was analyzed the crops and contaminants associated with the process, hydrological aspects (effective precipitation and evapotranspiration) were considered and the Water Footprint Network methodology was applied to determine the green, blue and gray WF components. The data allowed to compare the total WF, which indicates sugarcane was the crop with the best efficiency of water use, its approximate consumption was 7 and 15 times less than the African palm and hard maize, respectively; yearly it is estimated 500 MMm3 in terms of total agricultural production.