UTİB President Pınar Taşdelen Engin said, “R&D, design, innovation, branding, ecological and environmentally friendly production will bring the textile sector to the forefront in global competition. We are proud to lead this with the TechXtile Start-Up Challenge.”
TechXtile Start-Up Challenge, an entrepreneurship program supporting innovative initiatives for the textile sector, jointly conducted by ULUDAĞ TEXTILE EXPORTERS’ ASSOCIATION (UTİB) and Uludağ Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association (UHKİB), continues to bring new initiatives to the sector. Yusuf Furkan Ergür, who came first with the cheap green energy project he presented to the textile sector in 2022, continues to attract attention from the sector. Ergür said he was happy that his initiative resulted in an award.
Yusuf Furkan Ergür, who won the race with his project named “Phoenix Energy”, said, “The main goal of our project is to provide green energy to the dyehouse ovens and drying ovens of textile factories at a cheaper price than natural gas. In line with this goal, the world’s most efficient electrolyzer, for which our team holds the patent rights, is used. Thanks to its unique efficiency, the electrolyzer in question offers hydrogen as a green thermal energy source at a cheaper price than natural gas, even if the electricity it uses is purchased from the grid.” Ergür, who stated that his initiative first emerged as a result of his interest in the automotive sector, said, “Since we found this membrane thanks to the automotive sector, we first thought of using it there. Brisa was the pioneer of the journey and received an award by making a hydrogen hybrid vehicle, a first in the world. Then, when we wanted to apply this product to existing cars, we encountered a very big problem. In our system, hydrogen gas was only present when the vehicle was running. However, all safety and crash tests were performed while the vehicle was turned off.
For this reason, we decided to turn our project towards heavy industry and convinced a cement factory to implement our project and managed to create and separate 650 cubic meters of hydrogen in the chimney of the cement factory thanks to our patented membrane. Later, due to the difficulties of explaining this product, we decided to use this membrane in a second product. This is the electrolysis device that is currently on the agenda of the whole world. Electricity is spent in 2 situations in electrolysis devices. The first of these is to break water into hydrogen and oxygen and the second is to separate these two gases. When we separated these two gases not with electricity as in the current methods but with the membrane we use in the chimney, we created an electrolysis product that produces the same hydrogen gas with 50 percent less energy. Now, our commercialization process continues with both of our products,” he said. Ergür, who said that an agreement was reached with Konuk Isı for mass production, said, “CE, ISO and ATEX certification applications have been made, our first products in mass production will come off the line in the first quarter of 2024.”
“WE WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS”
UTIB Board of Directors Chair Pınar Taşdelen Engin stated that in order for our sector to stand out in the global competitive environment; we need to continue our work on R&D, design, innovation, branding, ecological and environmentally friendly production without slowing down, and said, “The sector needs young candidates who will produce and develop. We met very talented entrepreneurs in the past 4 years at the TechXtile Start-Up Challenge. We have had great excitement and happiness by coming together with many entrepreneurs for 4 years. With each entrepreneur we meet, talk to, listen to their ideas, and observe their excitement, our hope and motivation for the bright future of our sector increases,” she said.<
THE PROJECT IS FROM YOU, THE SUPPORT IS FROM US
Noting that the last project submission date for TechXtile Start Up Challenge 2023 is December 15, UTİB. President Pınar Taşdelen Engin said, “This year, we will evaluate and give awards in two categories: Level Up (Idea Stage Entrepreneur) and Scale Up (Product & Service Developed Entrepreneur). Our Women Entrepreneur Special Award, which we give to support our women entrepreneurs, continues this year. With the slogan “The Project is from You, the Support is from Us”, we are waiting for all entrepreneurs across Turkey who have ideas and projects in the textile vertical.
Source : https://www.fortuneturkey.com/techxtile-start-up-challengedabirinci-oldu
