Zorluteks Has Been Accepted to Horizon 2020 Grant Program for the Second Time
Cemil Ciçek, Zorlukteks General Manager
The OXIPRO project, in which Zorluteks is included as the only textile manufacturer, is aimed to develop environmentally friendly and sustainable products through utilizing environmentally sensitive enzymes. The OXIPRO project, which is entitled to receive 6 million Euros support from the European Union, will last for 48 months and will be carried out by a total of 15 partners from 11 different countries.
With the OXIPRO project, it is aimed to develop environmentally friendly and sustainable products by using environmentally friendly enzymes in the detergent, textile, cosmetics, and nutraceuticals (food supplements) sectors with an interdisciplinary and systemic innovation approach. Thus, resource consumption, environmental pollution, and harmful chemical consumption will be reduced, and product functionality will be increased with the enzymes to be developed as equivalent to the chemicals used in the processes. However, thanks to the immobilization feature of the enzymes to be developed, they can be reused after the process, reducing production costs and using the circular economy approach effectively.
Zorlukteks, the only textile manufacturer from Turkey to join the project
Zorlukteks General Manager Cemil Ciçek, who stated that the project they are included would make significant contributions to the reduction of environmental impacts thanks to the sustainability-focused solution realized during the production phase, continued his statements as follows, ‘‘As Zorluteks, we see sustainability as a way of conducting business. We manage all our operations from raw material to process management, from production phases to final product with this approach. In this context, we are proud to participate in the Horizon 2020 program, which we previously participated in with a different project, and now with the OXIPRO project. As Zorluteks, we are the only manufacturer in the textile sector and one of the 4 pilot facilities where the enzymes to be developed will be used in the project. Through this project, we present one of the best examples of how an impact can be made in the field of sustainability with innovative approaches in process management. With the special immobilized enzyme design that we will develop, we will be able to perform the desizing and bleaching processes, which are the most basic processes in the pre-finishing processes of cotton fabrics, in which currently eight different chemicals are used. In addition, we will be able to combine two separate processes, desizing and bleaching processes, in a single process. Thus, we will be able to reduce our water and carbon footprint while minimizing chemical, water, and energy consumption. We will be able to increase productivity by shortening the processing duration. Ultimately, we will be able to offer consumers more environmentally friendly and sustainable products.’’
