Performance Features of 15% MTBE/Gasoline Blends

This paper provides a technical assessment of using MTBE up to 15 volume percent in gasoline. Pertinent properties, important for proper gasoline blending, are examined and data are provided on performance aspects of interest to the motoring public and the technical community.

The primary motivation for using MTBE is to help satisfy octane marketing demands with ever-increasing sales of higher octane premium gasolines. Information with 15% MTBE blends covers vehicle performance and driveability, exhaust and evaporative emissions, 50,000 mile durability testing, materials compatibility and over-the-road evaluations. The data from these studies, along with the fungibility, cost-effectiveness, and benign environmental characteristics, make MTBE a very desirable high octane blending component for gasoline.