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...

Pervaporation removal of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) from dilute aqueous solutions was demonstrated using ceramic-supported polymer (CSP) membranes. These membranes were created by the free radical graft polymerization of vinyl acetate onto a vinyl trimethoxysilaneactivated porous silica substrate having a native average pore size of 500 Å. The resulting membranes consisted of poly(vinyl ace...

The structure and function of a microbial community capable of biodegrading methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) was characterized using compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA), clone libraries and stable isotope probing of proteins (Protein-SIP). The enrichment culture (US3-M), which originated from a gasoline-impacted site in the United States, has been enriched on MTBE as the sole carbon ...

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is widely used as a gasoline additive with toxicity and carcinogenicity, has caused environmental pollution worldwide. Biodegradation promising method for the removal of MTBE from contaminated sites. In this paper, three strains high adaptability different degrading characteristics to were cultured. The kinetic models established systematically simulate biodegrada...

The occurrence of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and gasoline hydrocarbons was examined in three types of studies of ground water conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey: major aquifer surveys, urban land-use studies, and agricultural land-use studies. The detection frequency of MTBE was dependent on the study type, with the highest detection frequency in urban land-use studies. Only 13 ground ...

A bacterium designated Pseudonocardia sp. strain ENV478 was isolated by enrichment culturing on tetrahydrofuran (THF) and was screened to determine its ability to degrade a range of ether pollutants. After growth on THF, strain ENV478 degraded THF (63 mg/h/g total suspended solids [TSS]), 1,4-dioxane (21 mg/h/g TSS), 1,3-dioxolane (19 mg/h/g TSS), bis-2-chloroethylether (BCEE) (12 mg/h/g TSS), ...

The occurrence of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in water from public wells in New Hampshire has increased steadily over the past several years. Using a laboratory reporting level of 0.2 microg/L, 40% of samples from public wells and 21% from private wells in southeast New Hampshire have measurable concentrations of MTBE. The rate of occurrence of MTBE varied significantly for public wells by e...

Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) is a gasoline oxygenate that is widely used throughout the US and Europe as an octane-booster and as a means of reducing automotive carbon monoxide (CO) emissions. The combustion by-products of pure MTBE have been evaluated in previous laboratory studies, but little attention has been paid to the combustion by-products of MTBE as a component of gasoline. MTBE ...

Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was measured in air samples collected at hourly intervals near Blodgett Forest Research Station on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, California, in July 1997, October 1998, and June through September 1999. Mixing ratios ranged from below the detection limit (< approximately 0.01 ppbv) to 0.5 ppbv, but were generally less than 0.3 ppbv. At these mixing ra...