By Logan B. Anderson

WILMINGTON — Delawareans have a special reason to cheer during the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing — a Wilmington-based company is responsible for making indoor play at some of its venues possible.

The Chemours Company has partnered with the International Olympics Committee to provide its brand of refrigerant for three venues during the Winter Olympics. Fans of ice hockey and curling can thank New Castle County researchers for the fresh ice.

“We’re really excited that it’s going to be used in three venues in the games,” said Alisha Bellezza, president of Chemours Thermal & Specialized Solutions division.

Events are held in the Beijing National Indoor Stadium, The Wukesong Arena and the Beijing National Aquatics Center — or the Water Cube as the stadium was called when it hosted the aquatics competitions during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Now with the help of Chemours, it’s the Ice Cube.

Chemours was able to be a part of the 2022 Winter Olympics thanks to its relationship with the National Hockey League.

“Where you need that high-performance ice … we’re bringing it,” Ms. Bellezza said.

While working with the NHL, Chemours officials met an IOC representative who was working on ways to make the ice venues for the Beijing Games more efficient and better for the environment.

“We suggested the use of our Opteon XP40, which effectively is about 65 percent of a lower global-warming impact than the older technologies that were in use. And with testing and with work with the equipment manufacturers, we were selected for three of those venues,” Ms. Bellezza said.

Chemours, back when it was part of DuPont, invented Freon.

“We’ve really continued to be a market leader and we keep innovating in the space to bring to market some of the newer technologies that are much more environmentally sustainable technologies and now we have our Opteon brand,” Ms. Bellezza said.

Chemours’ Opteon line was developed by scientists in Delaware. The specific product at work in China blends older technologies with hydrofluoric olefin science.

“It has a significantly lower global warming impact, no ozone depletion impacts to the atmosphere, and it’s a fluorine-based chemistry. But working with the right equipment, as we have here in these venues, we get to a solution that is cost-effective for the operators and has a lower environmental impact,” Ms. Bellezza said.

Chemours’ Opteon XP40 keeps the ice rinks frozen and it also helps the ice stand up to wear and tear of ice skates, hockey sticks and curling stones.

“That is a surface that takes a heck of a lot of damage — lots of skates, fast cutting into the ice, the need to go over it with the Zamboni — and it means that you need a really high-performing refrigeration unit to continue to make and sustain the ice. That’s what our product helps bring to the venue,” Ms. Bellezza said.

Helping the Olympic Games be greener is part of Chemours underlying mission.

“It’s really core to our values that we’re bringing solutions that are going to be more sustainable, equitable, and so it helps us feel like we’re a part of the greening of the games and that is core to our business and core to the company,” Ms. Bellezza said.

Being a part of the Beijing Games also helps with introducing the world to the Opteon line.

“It’s also, I think, a nice illustration to show the performance of our product showcased on TV mainstream and be a case study for us to use really with other customers … It gives us an opportunity to continue to demonstrate the performance, efficiency, effectiveness and cost benefits that this product can mean to a rink that might have older technology needs to do some replacement and wants a cost-effective solution that’s very safe and effective,” Ms. Bellezza said.

Opteon has a Made in America sticker. It was developed in the First State and it’s manufactured in the Lone Star State.

“Our (research and development) was all in Delaware. We spent probably the better part of a decade doing the R and D side of things for the HFO technology,” Ms. Bellezza said.

The chemistry company’s scientists work out of the Chemours Discovery Hub, on the University of Delaware’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research Campus in Newark. The facility houses more than 300 of the company’s top researchers and scientists, consolidating most of the company’s U.S. innovation efforts into one location to maximize collaboration and efficiency.

The Chemours Discovery Hub is 312,000-square feet, contains more than 130 individual laboratories and was built over the course of 24 months without a lost-time safety incident.

“We’re right off of the UD campus, which is phenomenal. Because of that access to talent and science and infrastructure, that is pretty exciting,” Ms. Bellezza said.

When Chemours Thermal & Specialized Solutions Division isn’t developing ways to make ice hockey and curling better, it’s working on ways to improve everything else.

“We help keep your cars cool. We help keep the food chain cool. Think about refrigerated trucks that go and keep food from spoiling, Your refrigerator cases in your supermarket. Those are now getting retrofitted with our solutions replacing old technology bringing and meeting the new environmental regulations that are happening,” Ms. Bellezza said.

Chemours is also working on ways to improve insulation so that things can stay cooler or warmer depending on the application.

“We run the gamut of a lot of different end markets. From your AC system outside, to your supermarket, to your vehicle. We kind of touch a lot of spaces that you probably see every day.”

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics started on Friday and will continue until Feb. 20. The Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games will also use the coolant for its icy endeavors.