MTBE

Factual Questions
1

What’s up with MTBE? All the gas pumps here in Orange County, California have a big sign that reads “WARNING-contains MTBE, which has been determined by the State of California to cause serious risk to the environment.” Also, I’ve heard it gets into the water supply and the general environment. So if it’s so bad, why use it? Or is it just another schizo ‘government-going-both-ways’ routine like with tobacco?

“No, its not foolproof…unfortunaely, fools are very clever people.” --Joseph Caro

2

What is MTBE?

3

MTBE stands for methyl-tertiary butyl ether. It is a chemical compound that is added to gasoline to improve the performance.

4

Methyl tertiary butyl ether, which means absolutely nothing to me. Here are some websites:
www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/fuels/mtbe/mtbe.htm www.mtbecontamination.com/ www.epa.gov/swerust1/mtbe/

Apparently it is used to ‘oxygenate’ gasoline during the winter months to keep down pollutants!?, and its use is contorversial, which usually means some big money interest involved.

“No, its not foolproof…unfortunately, fools are very clever people.” --Joseph Caro

5

I think MTBE will reduce products of incomplete combustion (PICs) in gasoline burning. This should reduce pollution from ordinary driving-around sorts of activities. PICs are nasty petroleum derivatives, like graphite/soot and the like, which are much worse for the environment than the CO2 and water vapor which results from complete combustion.

MTBE in cold climates has been implicated in human sickness, even when burned properly in cars. They don’t use it in Alaska, IIRC, since people get all faint-headed when they’re near a car burning it.

I suppose the warning on the gas pumps mentioned in the OP is probably referring to unburned MTBE, which is a whole nother can of worms. Sort of like gasoline itself: give it to your car when it’s thirsty, but don’t drink it yourself…! I don’t have any good clue as to the environmental hazards of MTBE - gasoline itself seems like quite enough of a hazard to groundwater, thank you very much.

Any similarity in the above text to an English word or phrase is purely coincidental.

6

I believe that gas supplies are refined for months (and maybe even years) ahead of time, so gas with MTBE was refined before it was discovered that it was harmful. But then why do the gas companies jack up prices the day after a refinery has a fire? For the same reason that a dog licks its balls, they can

The facts, although interesting, are irrelevent.

7

Incidentally, MTBE (BP 55-56 degrees C) is a fairly common industrial solvent, particularly in the pharmaceutical/fine chemical sector. I like it. My reactions work in MTBE :). I think i’ve said too much. Should I start a favourite solvents thread?

8

MTBE is soluble in water, so flows much more quickly underground. Gasoline tends to stay where it is spilled, but MTBE makes its’s way into drinking water sources. Just a little, and your water smells like turpentine. :mad:

It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.

9

Back in my Calif civil engineering days (+15yrs ago), there was a huge crusade for LUST (Leaky Underground Storeage Tank) enforcement. All gas stations had to be monitored. As I recall, the penalty for any violation was immediate execution by firing squad. How did all of this gasoline leak out into the ground water? What happened to the LUST people?