WILMINGTON – The Chemours Company, a global chemistry and advanced materials company, renewed its multi-year partnership Oct. 6 with the NHL on its Opteon refrigerant line. First signed in […]
[caption id="attachment_215996" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Chemours Company renewed a multi-year deal with the NHL. | DBT PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS[/caption]
WILMINGTON – The Chemours Company, a global chemistry and advanced materials company, renewed its multi-year partnership Oct. 6 with the NHL on its Opteon refrigerant line.First signed in 2018, the deal provides education, technical support, innovation and sustainable solutions for the NHL’s use of Opteon in freezing ice rinks. Chemours’ Opteon is a more environmentally friendly and economically sustainable refrigerant compared to legacy hydrofluorocarbon-based products that affect the ozone.The latest partnership renewal, announced on Green Sports Day promoting athletics’ efforts to better environmental quality, adds a middle school partnership program that aims to “inspire the next generation of STEM professionals.” The details of that program have yet to be announced.In the first three years of the partnership, about 200 community, university and professional ice rinks, including the SAP Center, home of the San Jose Sharks in California, and Ball Arena, home of the Colorado Avalanche, have switched to Opteon refrigerants. In May, Chemours also announced that three Chinese sports venues that will host hockey games and curling matches during the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games had also chosen Opteon.The company reported that second quarter sales for Opteon had increased by 47% year-over-year to $340 million.New Chemours CEO Mark Newman told Delaware Business Times in June that the company was looking to sell more products directly to end users, like those ice rink deals for Opteon.“We’re seeing a lot of pull from the end customer, folks who want to be part of the solution around climate change and global warming, and want to proactively change,” he said.Aside from selling end users, Newman said he also expects to continue connecting Chemours to leading academic researchers while also lobbying lawmakers to support more stringent environmental protections. He noted that the AIM Act, inserted as part of the Trump administration’s COVID response bill in December 2020, was a good step toward reducing HFC production in the U.S.“We’re working with the current Biden administration, and the [Environmental Protection Agency] specifically, on rules that will encourage migration to lower global warming refrigerants like Opteon,” he said.