The conventional sugar and ethanol production process is characterised for being energy self-sufficient by using one of its residues, the bagasse, to produce its own steam and electricity in a cogeneration system. However, some aspects of this industry have yet to be improved, such as the treatment and management of vinasse and the significant water use during the process. Seeing as the vinasse is mostly composed of water (~90% m/m), technologies that can reduce the vinasse volume aiming at re-using the water recovered, can greatly reduce the water withdrawal of sugarcane processing plants, hence improving the sustainability of the process. Thus, this study compared three scenarios to treat the vinasse produced in a conventional sugar and ethanol production plant from sugarcane, aiming at a safe and less expensive disposal. The scenarios considered include: i) concentration by evaporation for volume reduction, ii) biodigestion with biogas burning in the cogeneration system’s boiler and digestate treatment with membranes, and iii) biodigestion with biogas purification aiming at biomethane production. Energy and mass balances were carried out for each scenario. The main results indicate that the vinasse concentration allows a reduction of 82.7% in the water withdrawal, as a great quantity of water can be re-used when concentrating the vinasse up to 21.5 Brix. On the other hand, the scenarios that include the biodigestion of vinasse allow a reduction of 65.5% in the effective water withdrawal, when utilising membranes to concentrate the digestate, without modifying the water use. All comparisons were made against a Base Case representing a conventional sugar and ethanol production plant where non-treated vinasse is used in the form of fertirrigation.