4.16 Is reformulated gasoline more toxic than unleaded?
Description
This article is from the Gasoline FAQ, by Bruce Hamilton with numerous contributions by others.
4.16 Is reformulated gasoline more toxic than unleaded?
The evidence so far indicates that the components of reformulated gasolines
( RFGs ) are more benign than unleaded, and that the tailpipe emissions of
hydrocarbons are significantly reduced for cars without catalysts, and
slightly reduced for cars with catalysts and engine management systems. The
emissions of toxic carbonyls such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein
are increased slightly on all vehicles, and the emission of MTBE is increased
about 10x on cars without catalysts and 4x on cars with catalysts [55].
When all the emissions ( evaporative and tailpipe ) are considered, RFGs
significantly reduce emissions of hydrocarbons, however the emissions of
carbonyls and MTBE may increase [55]. There has been an extensive series
of reports on the emissions from RFGs, produced by the Auto/Oil Air Quality
Improvement Research Program, who measured and calculated the likely
effects of RFG [18,19,20,58,59,60,61]. More research is required before
a definitive answer on toxicity is available.
The major question about RFGs is not the toxicity of the emissions, but
whether they actually meet their objective of reducing urban pollution.
This is a more complex issue, and most experts agree the benefits will only
be modest [18,19,20,61,62].
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