Climate Change

Focusing on Energy Efficiency

In accordance with its sustainability objectives, Tüpraş, as an industry with high energy consumption, concentrates on maximizing energy efficiency all its facilities. Prioritizing energy-efficiency projects in its investments made it possible for Tüpraş to reach an energy saving of 473,234 GJ in 2019. This energy saving is equivalent to 26,292 tons of CO2 emission savings and led to a financial saving of TL 21.6 million.

Adaptation to Climate Change

Recognizing the significance of adapting to climate conditions, Tüpraş prioritizes identifying and eliminating the effects of climate change which poses a threat to its operations. Accordingly, it has acted to preserve the vital sources of its operations, mitigating water risks, and adjusting its production processes to manage its resources effectively. In collaboration with the Körfez Municipality, Tüpraş has initiated the Urban Wastewater Recycling Project, investing $24.8 million in İzmit Refinery between 2014 and 2015. Currently, the total municipal wastewater recovery production capacity of the refinery is 1,500 m3/hour and 99% of the water being used at the facility comes from the wastewater of the Municipality. İzmit and İzmir refineries of Tüpraş are gradually working to recycle industrial wastewater and reuse processed wastewater in the intermediate stages. As one of the few initiatives around the globe which focuses on repurposing urban wastewater recycling project and the recycled-reused industrial wastewater, the projects lead to the recycling of 87 million m3 of water in the last four years. This means that the project saved an amount of water equal to the annual consumption of an urban area around 542,500 houses.

Tüpraş R&D departments work to present solutions to mitigate climate change impacts on the company’s business. As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, which is the biggest European Union Research & Innovation Programme, Tüpraş has established various partnerships and has taken action to promote energy efficiency projects, the economically and environmentally viable conversion of CO2 waste into value-added products to be used as alternative fuels or chemicals, development and demonstration of new and advanced CO2capture technologies, research and development of advanced waste water treatment technologies and the manufacturing of energy efficient materials. Partnerships initiated by Tüpraş aim to produce biosynthetic fuel with the objective of supporting low carbon development, innovating technologies which make the recycling of waste heat possible and active sustainability on an industrial scale.

Especially in energy-intense industries, significant amounts of waste heat are lost to the atmosphere. 10 different leading institutions from 5 different countries came together to start Indus3Es project in developing an innovative absorption heat exchanger (AHT) system that will efficiently recycle low temperature (below 130 ºC) waste heat that occurs in industrial processes. In 2019 the pilot project was implemented at Tüpraş İzmit Refinery, thus, making it the first refinery to use the technology developed under Horizon 2020.

Collaboration

Recognizing sharing knowledge and making collaborations as an essential part of sustainable development, Tüpraş makes effort to share its own experience on climate change with the business world. Tüpraş participated at the 25th Session of the COP 25, which was held in Madrid, Spain by joining related sessions in order to follow the international agenda closely. As part of its collaboration with the Körfez Municipality, the company held meetings with several local municipalities, the Ministry of Forest and Water Management, along with NGOs and universities.

A senior executive from Koç Holding takes place in the Steering Committee of the Initiative and actively contributes to the work of the Initiative. Companies that want to be part of the solution by answering the Initiative's call announced that they would set their plastic pollution commitments by 2021 the latest. As Koç Group, we came forward with a multi-phase plan to end use of single-use plastics by the end of 2020, a commitment covering all Group companies.

Eco-Sustain: High Performance Recycled Plastic Materials

Arçelik carried out plastic recycling studies for the plastic parts used in all product types. Recycling plastic raw material formulations have been developed according to the application areas and technical expectations. Calcite filled recycled polypropylene (PP) compounds, flame retardant recycled PP compounds, recycled black PP compounds have been developed and approved for mass production. Detergent boxes, pump filter bodies, inner cover parts, back covers and intermediate glass plastics are some of the recycled plastic parts approved for production in the facilities.

Vacuum cleaner made from recycled materials

With the use of waste plastic, Grundig electric vacuum cleaner was manufactured, which is 90% made of recycled plastic using plastic materials obtained in Arçelik’s recycling plants. In Arçelik's new vacuum cleaners 31% of the plastic parts of each broom are made from recycled plastic with improved material properties. This means that approximately 106 tons of recycled plastic transformed in a way that it adds value to Arçelik's products. By developing this product, Arçelik saves approximately 2,207 GJ of energy and 285 tons of CO2 emissions annually, which equals to annual consumption of approximately 219 households, by reducing the use of plastics from petroleum sources.
 

PET Tub

In order to further combat against the plastic pollution and contribute to circular economy, Arçelik uses PET bottles for manufacturing some part of the washing machines. With this approach Arçelik recycled over 25 million PET bottles from the beginning of the project until the end of 2019, 11.4 million bottles in 2019 alone. Thus far, the project saved 20,500 GJ energy equivalent to 1,700 households annual electricity consumption and prevented 885 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
 

Ghost Fishing Nets

The ghost fishing nets constitute a major threat to marine life. Arçelik has developed innovative high-performance plastic materials using those recycled fishing nets and the materials are approved for oven productions. Arçelik produced various oven plastic parts that require a high levels of hardness and thermal stability, using a glass fiber reinforced polyamide-based compound in which all polyamide polymer content in plastic parts is obtained from recycled fishing nets and waste yarn fibers. In order to fibers to maximize the end product's performance, Arçelik used a combination of recycled plastics from ghost fishing nets and waste filament. In 2019, the production processes used more than 65 tons of recycled waste fishing nets in 170,000 products.
 

Bio-plastics & Bio-Cool

The efforts to reuse or recycle plastic are not the sole actions taken for combatting plastic waste. Alternative methods to replace plastics are also being studied for at Arçelik. The bio-plastic project developed by Arçelik enables plant-based resources such as corn starch, soybean oil to be used instead of petrol-based plastics. Bioplastics emit 80% less carbon dioxide compared to petroleum-based plastics. Thanks to the bio-materials developed by Arçelik, the life-span and durability of the bio-plastics are increased for durable goods and home appliance applications. For the Bio-Cool, Bio Based Polyurethane Insulation Materials project, industrial egg shell waste and bioplastics were combined to produce the egg-trays of refrigerators. Within the same project, bio-based hard polyurethane foam insulation was produced by using natural oils to be used in compartments for household type refrigerators. Arçelik was able to save 6 kg of CO2 per cabinet produced in the selected refrigerator. For a more efficient transformation towards the bio-plastics Arçelik works in collaboration with its European partners within the frame of EU Horizon 2020 BIO4SELF Project.
 

Microfiber Filtration System

Arçelik designed world's first microfiber filtrating washing machine, which filters 90% of microfibers that otherwise go into oceans and seas. The microfiber filtration box can be recycled and reused in producing new filters or textile products. The filtration system overall reduces the amount of plastic that goes into oceans, while also contributing to the circular economy by being fully-recyclable.