Two-phase immersion cooling needs a working fluid that boils at server temperatures, stays electrically nonconductive and survives years of service. Chemours built Opteon 2P50 for that job. The developmental fluid boils at 48.9°C, carries a global warming potential of 10 and remains pending federal approval in the United States.
WRAL found the unresolved question. Seventeen environmental groups, including NRDC and Earthjustice, have urged the Environmental Protection Agency to reject new PFAS uses such as 2P50. Chemours argues PFAS substances should be evaluated individually and says the fluid would operate in a closed loop that allows reclamation, reprocessing and reuse.
A closed loop can reduce routine fluid handling. It does not answer the full lifecycle question. Operators still need loss-rate data, atmospheric breakdown products, service procedures, spill controls and end-of-life recovery requirements. WRAL asked Chemours for full-scale testing and emissions data. The company did not provide them.
WRAL also asked Chemours to confirm an estimated annual evaporative loss rate near 0.7 percent. The company neither confirmed that figure nor supplied another one. At campus scale, a fraction of a percent can become a procurement and reporting issue. Fluid inventory multiplied by annual loss is the number permit writers and insurers will ask for.
Chemours says two-phase immersion can cut cooling energy by more than 90 percent and nearly eliminate cooling-related water consumption compared with traditional air cooling. Its published material attributes those claims to analysis across the United States, United Arab Emirates, Denmark and Singapore. The company did not give WRAL the underlying data.
The cooling industry has already lived through one fluid exit. 3M ended PFAS manufacturing and removed Novec from the market, forcing two-phase suppliers to qualify replacements. That history sits behind the current PFAS pivot.
North Carolina exposes the disclosure problem because data center projects use very different cooling systems. Amazon told WRAL its Richmond County design uses outside air for roughly 93 percent of the year and evaporative cooling on the hottest days. Microsoft said proposed facilities in Person and Catawba counties would add no PFAS to cooling water. Those statements can be tested against permits. A proprietary immersion fluid is harder to evaluate without public composition, loss and degradation data.
Two-phase immersion can reduce water draw and cooling power. Buyers should require the same precision for chemistry that they require for thermal resistance. Put annual fluid loss, recovery yield, breakdown products and replacement liability into the contract. Closed loop is an operating description. It is not a warranty.