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US EPA forced to consider options on MTBE use
Platts International Petrochemical Report , March 30, 2000 , Pg 2 , Vol. 19, No. 13
Gerald Karey, Kim Benestante, Platt's Washington D.C.

While the outcome of the US Environmental Protection Agency's proposed MTBE rulemaking could be a total ban on the use of the oxygenate as a gasoline additive in reformulated gasoline, the agency will also have to consider a variety of less sweeping measures.

And at the annual meeting of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Assn, an EPA official said elimination of the oxygenate mandate would be part of a "new framework" for RFG.

EPApublished an advance notice of proposed rulemaking Mar 24, pursuant to theToxic Substances Control Act.

The act provides for the elimination or sharp reduction in the use of chemicals that pose a reasonable risk to health or the environment.

However, it also requires the agency to consider alternatives to an outright ban.

"These could include limiting the use orthe amount of MTBE that could be used in gasoline, limiting the use of MTBE in particular geographic areas or during particular times of the year, limiting the types of facilities in which MTBE can be stored (or) the manner in which MTBE is transported," EPA said in its notice.

The act also provides that if EPA determines the risk posed by MTBE can be eliminated or reduced "to a sufficient extent" through other actions, it may not be able to regulate MTBE under TSCA.

At the NPRA meeting in San Antonio, Bob Perciasepe, the EPA's assistant administrator for air and water, noted the agencyis proposing to eliminate the current 2% oxygenate mandate for RFG.

However, that act must be carried out by Congress, unlike the MTBE ban, which could be carried out under TSCA.

"We are looking at a new framework for RFG," said Perciasepe. "There needs to be flexibility through legislative action to enable refiners to devise the recipe" to achieve reduced emissions.

Because MTBE comprises anywhere from 3% to 7% of the domestic gasolinepool, its supply might not easily be filled by ethanol, an alternative oxygenate.

The EPA is studying California's revised "Predictive Model" on achieving cleaner-burning fuels in the context of acting upon the state's request to waive the RFG oxygenate mandate.

"There will be a need to backfill octane" left by the void in the event MTBE is banned, Perciasepe said. In addition to ethanol, alkylate and isobutane blendstocks boost octane levels.

And in the event MTBE would be banned, there will be a need to shift summer-use RFG to a year-round program, Perciasepe said.

"You will have to be very mindful of vapor pressure and have the flexibility over all year," he said.

The idea is to use more ethanol in the winter months to reduce emissions, and use less ethanol -- which is more volatile and contributed to higher levels of Reid Vapor Pressure -- and more of other octane enhancers in the summer months. RFG makes up 30% of the nation's gasoline supply.

"This decade, we're targeting 77% to 95% reduction in emissions," Perciasepe said, including much lower sulfur on-road diesel.

And the question on many convention attendees' minds is when and how the lower sulfur gasoline and diesel regulations will be enacted.

The diesel rule has not been formally proposed yet; the targeted date for the gasoline rule is 2004.There is fear that if the specifications are imposed simultaneously, the country's gasoline and diesel supply will be dramatically compromised.

"To phase in low-sulfur diesel (as is currently being done with gasoline in the Complex Model Phase II Transition) will be almost impossible because of the implications of a segregated marketing system, engines that require high amounts of diesel and so on," Perciasepe said.

"You'd have to do the low-sulfur diesel restrictions all at once." But a sequential plan to reduce sulfur in gasoline and diesel is absolutely necessary, he said.

"It isessential for us to find the right sequence. They can't happen all at oncebut they don't have to be linear either. You just need the right combination."

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