Does it wash off into the storm sewer or evaporate? I suspect that both the gas and MTBE evaporate. Smog? Yes. But probably not a ground water pollutant. In any case, an underground tank lead would cause many time more damage than the occasional loss of gas on the ground.
I suspect that both the gas and MTBE evaporate.
That’s the problem with MTBE…it DOESN’T EVAPORATE. Ethanol DOES.
But probably not a ground water pollutant.
It’s considered an EXCELLENT GROUND WATER POLLUTANT.
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2003/olrdata/env/rpt/2003-R-0911.htm
In any case, an underground tank lead would cause many time more damage than the occasional loss of gas on the ground.
But you don’t need much to contaminate water…20 parts per BILLION is considered VERY VERY HIGH.
Nice references, Mike.
There is also a statistic about spilling oil, but I can’t remember what it is. It is something like “one drop of oil is enough to contaminate ___ gallons of water.” Do you know what the number is?
I often think of this phrase when folks here advise someone not to fix an oil leak, but I can’t remember the number.
Apparently MTBE is not aeromatic. I’ll confirm what Mike said, NH banned it as an oxidizer because it was discovered to be seeping into the groundwater in significant amounts.
“Density Altitude”,(sounds like [meanjoe75fan] is a pilot) is the number oxygen molecules in a given space - for the sake of our conversation. Moisture in the air will decrease the quantity of oxygen in a cubic foot of air. The easiest way to sink an airplane is to try to fly through hot and moist air. Florida vs. California !!! guess who has the warm and humid air !! We, California may be on the ocean, but it is very dry here because of the cool air coming down from the north. That air is much more dense than your Florida air which is coming up from the south. Warm and humid for you, cool and dry for us. We do have Ethanol here. It’s required. It’s just not labeled. It’s supposed to be labeled. It may not be for long though. Ethanol has a shakey reputation here as some studies consider it to be carbon polluting from the high carbon “input-usage” required to produce it.
Your car should do better in California than in Florida. You have salty,moist,stiffling air… I know, It’s beautiful too. But dry air is actually the heaviest kind of air… air… actual air molecules added up weigh more from cool dry air in a cubic foot of space than all of the “air molecules” in a rainy or humid or moist cubic foot of air. The water in the air is just taking up space while the water is in vapor form. That water is not actually “weight” that you engine gets to use for combustion of fuel. So when your engine breaths a cubic foot of air in Florida it is breathing a lower number of oxygen molecules for that given time of consuming that cubic foot of air.
I keep meticulous mileage records. The stations around us switched to 10% ethanol about 6 weeks ago, and I noticed an immediate 12 - 15% drop in MPG on all of our vehicles. The price per gallon did not drop. Why isn’t this being talked about more? Why isn’t this in the media? This whole ethanol issue is a scam.
Ethanol just has a lower btu rating, so what? It also gives gasoline a higher octane rating, which is a plus if your engine was designed to specifically run with ethanol mixed gasoline. Increase compression, increase power, efficiency. Unfortunatly there are so many different types of engines/designes it’s really up to the wits of the consumer to decide if ethonal mixed gasoline will help efficieny, mpg, whatever. My old truck has a low compression ratio so I choose to run unmixed gasoline (if i can find it)
Actually, MTBE does evaporate, otherwise it would not be extremely flammable. At -27 degrees, it puts out enough vapor for ignition.
It boils at 55C or 131F.
It has a charactoristic etherlike odor, probably because it is an ether. Methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether. CH3-O-C(CH3)3