Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) is an oxygenate that works to lower tailpipe emissions, but its safety is in question. In concentrations as low as a few parts per billion, MTBE is noticeable in drinking water because it does not biodegrade and emits a smell like turpentine. Municipal water users have complained of MTBE contamination of their domestic water supplies and several hundred California municipal water wells have been shut down as a result. Lake Tahoe shows evidence of MTBE pollution from unburned gasoline containing MTBE being blown directly into the water from jet skis and motorboats.
The primary problem with MTBE is found in its chemical composition which does not biodegrade in land or water environments. MTBE is produced by blending single-carbon methanol with isobutylene, a waste product from the oil refining process. Like Standard Alcohol Company’s Envirolene® (E3) and grain ethanol, MTBE is hydrophilic, which means that it is attracted to water and thus is diluted. The molecular problem with MTBE's composition is found in its tertiary carbon bond which microbes can't break down. Therefore, it persists as a contaminate in groundwater after seeping from leaking underground gasoline storage tanks or pipelines. Conversly, natural bacteria, microbes and phytoplankton easily digest water soluble Envirolene® as a basic food source.
Hundreds of MTBE contaminated California municipal water wells have prompted Grey Davis, the State's Governor, to issue an executive order dated March 25, 1999, stating that California will totally phase-out MTBE by December 31, 2003. Other states and several foreign countries have followed California's lead to entirely phase-out MTBE from reformulated gasoline.
Fermented grain ethanol has been allowed by California's Environmental Policy Review Committee to substitute for MTBE. A problem in California, as well as the rest of the country, is that ethanol is more expensive than MTBE and its current supply is only a fraction of the demand for MTBE. This will likely force the market price for grain ethanol (and thus gasoline) even higher. Grain ethanol supply is currently 2.4 billion gallons annually and U.S. consumption of MTBE is 4.4 billion gallons per year. To meet the MTBE demand Ethanol production would have to double from current levels.
Standard Alcohol Company’s Envirolene does a better and lower-priced job of oxygenating gasoline at 138 octane than does MTBE or grain ethanol. SACA’s fuel can be produced in 100-fold the quantities of either grain ethanol or MTBE. This stronger, more-profitable mixed alcohol fuel provides equivalent oxygen, more Btu's, less evaporative emissions and significantly better reductions in tailpipe emissions.
