The meeting at Bilecik Chamber of Commerce and Industry was attended by Tahir Büyükakın, Governor of Bilecik and Chairman of BEBKA Board of Directors; Prof. Dr. İbrahim Taş, Rector of Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University; Mefail Ateş, Chairman of Bilecik Chamber of Commerce and Industry; İsmail Gerim, Secretary General of BEBKA; Nuh Yılmaz, Business Development Manager of TÜBİTAK MAM; TÜBİTAK officials; Turgut Özen, President of Bilecik Marble Producers Association; and sector representatives from the region.
Speaking at the opening of the program, BEBKA Secretary General İsmail Gerim said that within the scope of the program, a feasibility study was carried out by TÜBİTAK-MAM on the transformation of powdered marble waste with high calcium carbonate content into a high value-added product by using it in the production of precipitated calcium carbonate.
Secretary General İsmail Gerim stated that within the scope of the Industrial Symbiosis Program, which was initiated by BEBKA in 2014 and is still ongoing, studies on the evaluation of marble waste in Bilecik will continue.
Underlining that approximately 40 percent of the world's marble reserves are in Turkey, TÜBİTAK MAM Business Development Manager Nuh Yılmaz reminded that despite this ratio, Turkey is the 17th largest marble exporter in the world. Drawing attention to the importance of producing high value-added products, Yılmaz said that Bilecik is an important center at this point and that there is a significant potential in marble waste to be used in other sectors. Yılmaz said that this would pave the way for the production of high value-added products in marble production.
Tahir Büyükakın, Governor of Bilecik and Chairman of BEBKA Board of Directors, pointed out that innovation, product development, material and technology-based studies require patience and labor and said, "You cannot develop a product at a desk. A common language must be created between the University and Industry. It is essential to work in cooperation. It is important to spend time together, to comprehend the problem together and produce solutions. Innovation alone is not meaningful and sufficient."
Stating that TÜBİTAK is an important institution and that the work carried out is a successful work, Governor Büyükakın said, "That is why I am looking forward to the results. Our friends in the research and development department and our enterprises in production will want to develop a common language and they will succeed. If you believe and be patient, we will get good results. Emphasize and adopt the studies. TÜBİTAK and our university are well versed in this subject. I would like to ask our enterprises to pay attention to this issue. I am sure that this process will produce good results."
In the presentations that took place after the opening speeches, TÜBİTAK MAM Chemical Technology Institute Lead Researcher Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hacer Doğan gave information about the Pre-Feasibility Study for the Production of High Value Added Chemicals from Marble Wastes in cooperation with BEBKA.
Following Assoc. Prof. Dr. Doğan, Mustafa Kara, Senior Researcher at TÜBİTAK MAM Materials Institute, gave a presentation on Project Topics for the Utilization of Marble Wastes and Dr. Pembe Özer Erdoğan, Senior Researcher at TÜBİTAK MAM Environment and Cleaner Production Institute, gave a presentation on the Cleaner Production Center of Excellence.
After the presentations, the meeting ended with a question and answer session. The work on producing value-added products from marble waste will continue under the coordination of BEBKA with the participation of representatives from TÜBİTAK MAM, Bilecik Provincial Directorate of Science, Industry and Technology, Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Bilecik Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bilecik Marble and Granite Industrialists Association (BİLMERDER).
