San Francisco, California -- Hybrid Coating Technologies has announced plans to enter the polyurethane-based synthetic leather industry as it files a patent based on its isocyanate-free technology.
In a press release, Hybrid said it is currently in discussions with a large unnamed synthetic leather industry company for a potential joint development and distribution deal.
Hybrid president and ceo Joseph Kristul said: "The synthetic leather industry is looking for non-toxic alternatives.
"Our non-isocyanate, VOC-free polyurethane platform technology should prove quite attractive to the synthetic leather industry” – a market the company believes to be worth more than $20bn a year according to the press release.
Quoting a study by Research and Markets, the company highlighted the growing demand for polyurethanes dispersions – a market with a 2012 volume nearing 270kT and which is forecast to have grown by 37% at the end of 2018.
Hybrid Coating Technologies’ innovation is listed in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s MDI Action Plan against Isocyanates as an alternative to toxic polyurethane, In July 2012 it announced a license deal for its technology in the coatings arena.
