The customers’ needs are often an impetus for the companies to adopt new, more efficient and environmentally friendly materials. Delfield, an American company, for example, has switched for its entire cooling technology to Ecomate, a polyurethane foam developed by Foam Supplies, also an American company, that uses methyl formate blowing agents. Ecomate is a material with zero of ODP and GWP, and therefore not subject to VOC regulations in force in the U.S.A.
This foam can be blended with a polyol or isocyanates, and treated in the same way as HCFC 141b, because they have almost identical properties, including boiling point, solubility and flammability.