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Historical Gasoline Composition Data 1976 - 2010
Citation:
Weaver, Jim. Historical Gasoline Composition Data 1976 - 2010. Presented at 23rd National Tanks Conference and Expo, March 19 - 21, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
Poster for the 23rd National Tanks Conference and Expo in St. Louis, MO on March 19-21, 2012.
Description:
Gasoline composition varies for technical, market and regulatory reasons. Knowledge of any one of these is insufficient for understanding the chemical composition of gasoline at any specific location in the U.S. Historical data collected by the National Institute of Petroleum and Energy Research and its successors was used to compare gasolines from 27 cities around the U.S. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 provide a framework for gasoline which includes reformulated, conventional and oxygenated gasoline. Each of these has characteristics that were seen in data from some of the 27 cities. Reformulated gasoline has a benzene content that is less than 5% and from 1995 to 2006 contained 2% oxygen by weight. Several states began banning methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in 2000, causing a shift to ethanol to meet the oxygen requirement. Conventional gasoline had benzene limits set by producer baselines and has had average contents higher than 3% in some cities. The Mobile Source Air Toxics Rule of 2007 limited benzene, nationwide to 0.62% in the beginning of 2011. MTBE and ethanol use varied among in conventional gasoline as both can be used as octane boosters. Oxygenated gasoline contains an oxygenated additive in winter months, which clearly established seasonal patterns in cities implementing this program.