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The Science of Air Pollution
Published in Daniel T. Rogers, Environmental Compliance Handbook, 2023
Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is a LNAPL compound produced exclusively as a gasoline additive. MTBE belongs to a group of chemicals known as oxygenates because they raise the oxygen content of gasoline and thereby raise the octane level. MTBE is a colorless liquid at room temperature and is very volatile and flammable (USEPA 2013). The purpose of adding MTBE to gasoline was to increase the efficiency of combustion in automobiles, enabling them to run cleaner and emit fewer pollutants. However, the use of MTBE has declined significantly because of health concerns, and it has been detected in many groundwater aquifers used as drinking water sources in the United States (USEPA 2013). The United States has now banned the use of MTBE because of its propensity to contaminate groundwater and the high costs of removing it (USEPA 2013). MTBE is also used to dissolve gallstones. Patients treated for gallstones using MTBE have MTBE delivered directly to the gall bladder through surgically inserted tubes. Health effects from exposure to MTBE may include nose and throat irritation, headaches, nausea, dizziness, and mental confusion. Currently, evidence suggesting that MTBE may cause cancer is inadequate (ATSDR 2021b).
Water Pollution
Published in Frank R. Spellman, The Science of Water, 2020
Public water systems detecting MTBE in their source water at problematic concentrations can remove MTBE from water using the same conventional treatment techniques that are used to clean up other contaminants originating from gasoline releases—air stripping and granular activated carbon (GAC), for example. However, because MTBE is more soluble in water and more resistant to biodegradation than other chemical constituents in gasoline, air stripping and GAC treatment requires additional optimization, and must often be used together to effectively remove MTBE from water. The costs of removing MTBE are higher than when treating for gasoline releases that do not contain MTBE. Oxidation of MTBE using UV/peroxide/ozone treatment may also be feasible, but typically has higher capital and operating costs than air stripping and GAC.
Petroleum Hydrocarbon Environmental Forensics and Remedial Site Investigation
Published in Rong Yue, Fundamentals of Environmental Site Assessment and Remediation, 2018
By the mid-2000s, the difficulties encountered in controlling MtBE as an environmental contaminant became so pervasive that individual states began banning MtBE in their gasolines, and by the mid-2000s, the U.S. EPA was forced to remove the requirements for RFG by banning the use of MtBE in RFG. However, just because the U.S. EPA banned MtBE in RFG, this does not mean that MtBE has been banned in all states in the United States. Not all states have banned MtBE gasolines. Some states still permit the use of MtBE in their automobile gasolines, and there is a consistent production of MtBE annually in the United States, reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (Figure 5.15). The investigator is urged to contact the state regulatory agency to determine the current state of MtBE ban in the area in which they are working if they are contemplating the use of MtBE in environmental matrices to age date gasoline contamination.
Methyl tertiary butyl ether biodegradation by the bacterial consortium isolated from petrochemical wastewater and contaminated soils of Imam Khomeini Port Petrochemical Company (Iran)
Published in Bioremediation Journal, 2022
Fatemeh Mahmoodsaleh, Mohammad Roayaei Ardakani
The presence of MTBE in drinking water is easily recognized by consumers because of its low taste and odor thresholds. By reason of high solubility in water as well as low adsorption to the soil and organic particles, MTBE is known as one of the important pollutants of surface soils and underground waters (Levchuk, Bhatnagar, and Sillanpää 2014). The United States environmental protection agency (USEPA) set the standard for MTBE in water as 20–40 µg/l. MTBE half-life in groundwater is at least 2 years. USEPA has identified MTBE as a suspected carcinogen (Hatzinger et al. 2001; Levchuk, Bhatnagar, and Sillanpää 2014). MTBE that released from fuel to the environment may rapidly penetrate into and contaminate soil and water because of its specific physicochemical properties such as high water solubility, and low biodegradation ability (Hatzinger et al. 2001).
Methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE): integration of rat and mouse carcinogenicity data with mode of action and human and rodent bioassay dosimetry and toxicokinetics indicates MTBE is not a plausible human carcinogen
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 2022
James S. Bus, B. Bhaskar Gollapudi, Gordon C. Hard
This series of reviews also evaluated the potential of MTBE to induce non-cancer hazards and risks, with the overall conclusions that MTBE is not a threat to reproduction, development, or other endpoints, such as neurotoxicity and immunotoxicity at exposure concentrations experienced occupationally or by the general population (Tables 1, 3). Of particular importance is a series of recent studies that comprehensively examined the non-cancer effects of MTBE as a co-exposure with a gasoline vapor condensate (Table 3). The gasoline-MTBE vapor condensate studies were designed to identify potential worst-case hazards and risks associated with exposure to MTBE resulting from its primary occupational and consumer use as a fuel oxygenate, and overall found no apparent evidence of MTBE-induced toxicity beyond that associated with non-MTBE containing gasoline-only exposures.
Performance and emissions of gasoline blended with fusel oil that a potential using as an octane enhancer
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2019
Ahmed N. Abdalla, Omar I. Awad, Hai Tao, Thamir K. Ibrahim, Rizalman Mamat, Ali Thaeer Hammid
On the other hand, the MTBE can be moved to groundwater resources through a variety of mechanism. MTBE has been discovered in groundwater that used as a source for drinking water. From 1996–2002, MTBE discovered in more than 1500 public water supply systems in 28 states around U.S. MTBE in the drinking water may have human health consequences including possible carcinogenesis and detrimental repro. Due to this issue the debate about whether MTBE is the best additive for cleaner gasoline continues, ethanol has appeared as a powerful contender (Thomas and Kwong 2001; Wyman and Hinman, 1990; Cohn, Bromberg, and Heywood 2008). Additionally, the fuel with a higher octane rating can endure higher compression ratio before the engine begins knocking, thus providing higher efficiently and more economically.