MTBE

[Huhwhye]

I don't get it.

Marginally Less polution and much increased consumption is a good thing?

We ran E85 once on a cross country trip. A vehicle that normally gets 19-20 MPG got 12 MPG, at least in our case.

So how is this better for the environment. Burning more fuel and resources is better because it pollutes a little less? I don't get it.

 

[Matt_S]

According to this article, MTBE is being phased out industry-wide. Look at the 6'th paragraph from the end (or do a ctrl-f and search for MTBE). Apparently, the pipelines are going to start refusing to carry gasoline blended with MTBE. If anyone has a better reference than this, though, I'd like to know more.

 

[brianl703]

This all may be a moot point:

WASHINGTON — States no longer will have to add corn-based ethanol or MTBE to gasoline to fight pollution — a requirement that costs as much as 8 cents a gallon — under rules announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The new rules eliminate a mandate from the 1990 Clean Air Act that gasoline used in metropolitan areas with the worst smog contain 2 percent oxygen by weight. The law did not say which oxygenate must be used, but most refiners use either ethanol or methyl tertiary butyl ether, known as MTBE.
[snip]
The rules announced Wednesday put in place a part of the energy bill the president signed in August that did away with the 2 percent oxygenate requirement.
The rules will take effect nationwide on May 6 and in California 60 days after their publication in the federal register, which should happen within the next three months, said EPA spokesman John Millett.

 

[Ray H]

quote:

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Originally posted by Porkchopx:
...MTBE is not soluble in water and is very cheap and easy to detect in water...

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Might wanna read up a little more next time before you rush to jump boldly into the squishy, smelly, brown stuff with both feet.

This from the U.S. EPA:

"Because MTBE dissolves easily in water and does not "cling" to soil very well, it migrates faster and farther in the ground than other gasoline components, thus making it more likely to contaminate public water systems and private drinking water wells. MTBE does not degrade (breakdown) easily and is difficult and costly to remove from ground water."

 

[Porkchopx]

MTBE does not degrade in water or easily bond with a water molecule therefore it is not soluble in water. It does not form a solution, it remains basically intact when mixed with water. I'm a bit biased towards MTBE as two members of my family worked at a MTBE manufacturing facility so I get the whats good about it story.

 

[Ray H]

Porkchopx, sucrose, most alcohols, polyglycol brake fluids, and ethylene and propylene glycol - just to name a few common organics - do not degrade (is that Porkchopx-speak for ionizing dissociation?) or "easily bond" with water molecules, either, yet no one would question that all are freely soluble in water. (leastways I haven't detected sugar granules in the bottom of the glass of sweetened tea I'm sipping as I write this response) Doesn't sound to me like you or the two members of your family who worked at an MTBE manufacturing facility have oft hoisted a glass of tapwater to quench a dry palate that smells and tastes like turpentine. Californians in and near Santa Monica have. (610 ppb - just a tad above the 20 ppb that most people readily detect as an unpleasant odor and taste...

) Enjoy your pristine Canadian glacial runoff and pray your two family members' previous employer doesn't inadvertently cause a large spill of MTBE near your community's aquafer.