Orange peel is a by-product of orange juice production and is available in large quantities. The German-Turkish cooperation project Orange Oil, in which the SKZ Plastics Centre, the Fraunhofer IMWS and the TüBITAK Marmara Research Center are working together, has discovered the dormant potential for the development of a sustainable epoxy resin.

In order to produce epoxy resins from orange peel, the orange oil is first extracted and then chemically modified by epoxidation. The epoxidised orange oil can then be mixed with a hardener to form a bio-based two-component system that could be used as an adhesive, as a resin layer for floor coverings or as a matrix component in fibre composite materials.