The E-Waste Column no. 218

1 day ago

3 min read

Today, we are looking at the growing production of poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) to meet the needs of datacenters.

🌱 Why are PFAS dangerous?

PFAS are commonly called “forever chemicals” due to the fact that they do not degrade easily. While the chemical durability of PFAS “makes them desirable in semiconductor manufacturing, industrial equipment and cooling systems”, this is also what makes them so dangerous to the health of humans and the environment. In February 2023, the Forever Pollution Project worked to map PFAS contamination across Europe. It located close to 23 000 sites contaminated by PFAS and an additional 21 500 sites that are presumed to be contaminated with PFAS. PFAS contamination can be found in soil, water, air, and also in blood. According to the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 97% of Americans now have PFAS in their blood. Similarly, in 2024, the blood of 10 out of the 11 high-level EU politicians, who voluntarily agreed to be tested and have their results be publicized, was found to be polluted with PFAS.

🌱 Why is the production of PFAS increasing so quickly?

It is estimated that “data center facilities accounted for nearly 46% of private office construction” and a total spending of USD 41.1 billion in 2025. This boom in datacenters creates a huge need for cooling, which requires both energy and water. As datacenters have been particularly heavily criticized for their water usage, many new cooling systems have been developed. Some of these use “fluorinated chemicals that include PFAS instead of water”. Therefore, PFAS are also being used increasingly more in the cooling of datacenters. In line with this, a recent report from the International Chemical Secretariat “found that most of the world’s biggest PFAS producers are expanding their capacity” to meet the needs of the rapidly growing AI infrastructure. Within this context, the PFAS are being used for “data center cooling, semiconductor manufacturing and lithium-ion battery materials”.

🌱 Why is the use of PFAS in datacenters increasing?

While until now many datacenters were purposely built in locations with colder climates to reduce the energy and the costs for cooling, the growth of AI has led to new datacenters also being built in warmer climates. Additionally, the servers are now often being packed closer together to increase the total server capacity. In practice, this means that the heat produced by the servers “cannot dissipate in the air nearly as effectively”. To tackle these two issues, companies have been exploring different liquid cooling technologies for datacenters over the past few years. While PFAS-free cooling is still considered to be the cheapest and it is also still the “most used method” of cooling in datacenter, many PFAS producers are now actively marketing their cooling solutions and the use of these is growing.

🌱 Are public concerns around PFAS use in datacenters growing?

While PFAS pollution from datacenters currently does not get as much attention as, for example, the water and energy use of datacenters does, it is a topic of growing concern. In line with this, in July 2026, 17 environmental organizations requested that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would reject the application to fast-track the use of a new PFAS chemical, called “Opteon 2P50”, for the cooling of datacenters. They argued that the leakage of the chemical from datacenters’ tanks could pose a significant “risk to the public and the environment”.

💡 In next week’s column, we will be looking at ways to reduce PFAS pollution from datacenters – so stay tuned.