Oxygenate
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Oxygenated substances have been infused with oxygen. The term usually refers to oxygenated fuels. Oxygenates are usually employed as gasoline additives to reduce carbon monoxide that is created during the burning of the fuel. Some oxygenates such as MTBE have been found to have contaminated groundwater, mostly through leaks in underground gasoline storage tanks.
In 2004, California and New York banned MTBE, generally replacing it with ethanol. Several other states started switching soon afterward.
Oxygenates may be based on alcohols or ethers. The most common oxygenates in use are:
- Alcohols:
- Methanol (MeOH)
- Ethanol (EtOH)
- Isopropyl alcohol (IPA)
- n-butanol (BuOH)
- Gasoline grade t-butanol (GTBA)
- Ethers:
- Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE)
- Tertiary amyl methyl ether (TAME)
- Tertiary hexyl methyl ether (THEME)
- Ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE)
- Tertiary amyl ethyl ether (TAEE)
- Diisopropyl ether (DIPE)
Most forms of automobile racing that require the use of gasoline as fuel (as opposed to higher-energy blended fuels or straight alcohols) prohibit the use of oxygenate compounds in fuels, as they can allow higher fuel burn than the engine intake restrictions are designed to permit. Prior to the 2007 Daytona 500, for example, NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip and his team were heavily penalized when evidence of an unspecified oxygenate compound was found in the car's intake manifold during inspections.
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