**Description/Company Overview:** Qualus is the cleantech leader in leather production, an industry with a global annual turnover of £52 billion (US $65 billion). Qualus' patented system enables tanners (leather manufacturers) to boost margins and lower their environmental footprint by significantly reducing the energy, water and chemicals required for production. The company has validated its technology with 20 tanneries in Europe and Latin America, has signed two 10-year contracts, and is revenue generating as of Q4 2019\. **The Problem:** Leather production is water, chemical and energy intensive, which in turn creates large volumes of effluent for treatment. An estimated 400 to 500 billion litres of water are required globally for leather production each year and tanners face market and regulatory pressure to reduce pollution. Tanneries MUST adapt or be replaced by their customers. Existing sustainable solutions are noncompetitive because they increase production costs and adversely affect the quality of the leather. **The Solution**: Qualus' patent protected system enables tanners to lower their environmental footprint (15% to 20% less energy, 30% to 40% less water, 10% to 15% less chemicals, 30% less effluent in key production stages) while also reducing costs and improving the quality of the leather. Qualus' Sferes (small polymer spheroids) replace a significant percentage of water in the leather production process and are more effective in delivering chemicals to the animal hides, resulting in effluent with less chemical component and reduced load on the treatment plant. In so doing, Qualus boosts tanners' margins by 40% to 90%. **COVID 19 Effect**: The COVID-19 Pandemic has had a major effect on the leather tanning industry and ESTR Limited. The main markets for leather are footwear, fashion, automotive and aerospace. All these industries are seeing a drop in demand by over 50% and massive downward pressure on margins which were in the 5% to 10% range before the pandemic. This is combined with global pressure to reduce the environmental impact of leather. The ESTR patented technology is one of the few technologies which can have a trans formative effect on leather production. The challenge is reducing the cost of the equipment used to handle and clean the Sferes. Whilst making it easy to install remotely. This is driven by the fact the main customers are in Brazil, Mexico, Italy and Asia, all of which have been heavily affected by COVID-19\. **The Project**: The ESTR project is to develop and field test a new version of the Sfere cleaning and handling system. The aim is to apply new concepts and innovations to the existing patented system. The target is to reduce the unit cost by 75%, design the system for volume production and simplify installation. It will involve detail design, build, testing and field testing to validate the technology.