4.17 Are all oxygenated gasolines also reformulated gasolines?
Description
This article is from the Gasoline FAQ, by Bruce Hamilton with numerous contributions by others.
4.17 Are all oxygenated gasolines also reformulated gasolines?
No. Oxygenates were initially introduced as alternative octane-enhancers in
the 1930s, and are still used in some countries for that purpose.
In the US the original "oxygenated gasolines" usually had a slightly-
modified gasoline as the hydrocarbon fraction. The US EPA also mandated
their use to reduce pollution, mainly via the "enleanment" effect on engines
without sophisticated management systems, but also because of the "aromatics
substitution" effect. As vehicles with fuel injection and sophisticated
engine management systems became pervasive, reformulated gasolines could be
introduced to further reduce pollution. The hydrocarbon component of RFGs is
significantly different to the hydrocarbon fraction in earlier oxygenated
gasolines, having lower aromatics contents, reduced vapour pressure, and a
narrower boiling range. RFGs do contain oxygenates as the octane-enhancer,
but have different hydrocarbon composition profiles [34,41,42,43,44].
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