Two pure bacterial strains capable of rapid degrading methyl tert–butyl ether (MTBE) were isolated from an industrial wastewater treatment plant, identified and characterized. These strains are able to grow on MTBE as the sole carbon and energy sources and completely mineralize it to the biomass and carbon dioxide. The strains were identified as Bacillus cereus and Klebsiella terrigena. Bot...

In response to the widespread contamination caused by MTBE-blended reformulated gasoline (RFG), legislative initiatives in several states and at the federal level have phased out, or are trying to phase out, the use of MTBE as a gasoline oxygenate. Ethanol is currently the most likely gasoline oxygenate alternative to MTBE. This potential for increased use of ethanol has been most widely acknow...

In March, prompted by rising concerns over groundwater contamination, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called for a phaseout of methyl-tert-butyl ether, or MTBE, a chemical added to gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide (CO) pollution. The 1990 Clean Air Act requires that gasoline sold in polluted urban areas contain oxygen additives. This "oxygena-tion" supposedly promotes complete ...

In Catalonia (northeast Spain), a monitoring program was carried out to determine methyl tert.-butyl ether (MTBE), its main degradation products, tert.-butyl alcohol (TBA), tert.-butyl formate (TBF), and other gasoline additives, the oxygenate dialkyl ethers ethyl tert.-butyl ether, tert.-amyl methyl ether and diisopropyl ether and the aromatic compounds benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylen...

In this study, evidence for two novel metabolic processes catalyzed by a filamentous fungus, Graphium sp. strain ATCC 58400, is presented. First, our results indicate that this Graphium sp. can utilize the widely used solvent diethyl ether (DEE) as the sole source of carbon and energy for growth. The kinetics of biomass accumulation and DEE consumption closely followed each other, and the molar...

We studied customer exposure during refueling by collecting air samples from customers' breathing zone. The measurements were carried out during 4 days in summer 1996 at two Finnish self-service gasoline stations with "stage I" vapor recovery systems. The 95-RON (research octane number) gasoline contained approximately 2.7% methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), approximately 8.5% tert-amyl methyl eth...

Growth of Aquincola tertiaricarbonis L108 on the fuel oxygenates methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) and tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME), as well as on their main metabolites tert-butyl alcohol (TBA), tert-amyl alcohol (TAA) and 2-hydroxyisobutyrate (2-HIBA) was systematically investigated to characterize the range and rates of oxygenate degradation by this strain. The e...

Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) (CAS No. 1634-04-4) is a volatile organic compound used almost exclusively as an oxygenate in unleaded gasoline to improve combustion efficiency. In the past it also had limited use as a therapeutic drug for dissolving cholesterol gallbladder stones. Currently, MTBE is added at 11% by volume to almost all of the gasoline used in California, although on March 2...

Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) was first added to gasoline in Europe in 1973 to replace lead as an anti-knocking agent and as an octane enhancer (CAL-EPA, 1998). U.S. EPA approved it as a blending component in the U.S. in 1979, to eliminate the use of leaded gasoline. Typical MTBE levels used by refiners were around 2-3% by volume, blended in different proportions to achieve performance standards.