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CALIFORNIA RE NAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOAR Ca1/EP A <br /> ���• CENTRAL VALLEWGION <br /> 4 Sacr RoudcRoa9 827- A <br /> SaciameaID,C.� 95827-3098 <br /> Phone(916)355-3000 <br /> FAX(916)255-3015 'eti' a ease ro, <br /> 18 July 1997 <br /> To Whom It May Concern - <br /> ANALYSIS REQUIRED FOR OXYGENATE COMPOUNDS USED IN 04LIFORNIA <br /> GASOLINE - EPA METHOD 826U <br /> At a recent meeting at the Department of Health Services in Berkeley,the statewide analytical <br /> methods committee for establishing analytical TFH and additive standards,was informed that <br /> oxygenate com0ounds, other than MTBE,have been and are being added to California <br /> gasoline which may constitute a threat to groundwaters. The list includes,in order of <br /> analytical identification: <br /> I. Methanol <br /> 2. Ethanol <br /> 3. Teary Butanol <br /> ?. MTBE <br /> S. Di-isopropyl ether (DIFF) <br /> 6. Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether(ETBE) <br /> 7. Tertiary Amyl Methyl Ether (TAME) <br /> T"ne first three are alcohols and the latter four are ether compounds. Ethanol has been used for <br /> several years in California- MTBE, as you know,has been used as an octane enhancer additive <br /> since the late 1940s and is now used at a nigher percentage as an oxygenate in gasoline. Since <br /> 1995,TAME,manufa&=ed by Chevron,has been added to California fuels. D1PE has be--..n <br /> used on the East Coast,butzecently has been found in Southern California ground water (-May <br /> 199/7. To date,we have no information regarding the use of ETBE in California. <br /> The introduction of these additives present analytical problems for laboratories because of the <br /> number of analyses required and internal interference. For imsance,TAME is diff:cult to <br /> distinguish because it co-elutes with benzene in the EPA-8020 analytical method commonly <br /> used today. Therefore,the analytical methods committee concurred that EFA-8260 is required <br /> to determine which compound has been used. This analytical method will likely increase the <br /> cost of sample analysis;but,until another comprehensive analytical method is developed that <br /> can distinguish between the compounds,EPA 8260 is me single,provisional method of <br /> ar a vsis for these compounds. <br /> This problem is further compounded because the oil r=une-ries ship gasoline around time state <br /> and then trade gasoline between geographic a=--as. For instance,if gasoline is needed-iit the <br /> San Francisco Bay area by Snell,Snell will obtain some gasoline nom, say, Chevron in elle Bay <br /> area and, in exchange, Chevron will receive some Shell gasoline in Southern California. The <br /> 3a:/eir�?aver Ora•�it m eraove mrd arts the madhy of Calitamia't warn•raarvrc arrd <br /> awe:ate none•allu—n and a j=m=jar rice uazeu of?r and iw a garery= <br />