THE ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY OF OXYGENATED FUEL ADDITIVES - TERT-BUTYL ALCOHOL, DIMETHYL ETHER, AND METHYL TERT-BUTYL ETHER

The mechanisms for the Cl‐initiated and OH‐initiated atmospheric oxidation of t‐butyl alcohol (TBA), methyl t‐butyl ether (MTBE), and dimethyl ether (DME) have been determined. For TBA the only products observed are equimolar amounts of H2CO and acetone, and its atmospheric oxidation can be represented by (7), (Formula Presented.) The mechanism for the atmospheric oxidation of DME is also straight forward, with the only observable product being methyl formate, (Formula Presented.) The mechanism for the atmospheric oxidation of MTBE is more complex, with observable products being t‐butyl formate (TBF) and H2CO. Evidence is presented also for the formation of 2‐methoxy‐2‐methyl propanal (MMP), which is highly reactive and presumably oxidized to products. The atmospheric oxidation of MTBE can be represented by (9) and (10), (Formula Presented.) (Formula Presented.) In terms of atmospheric reactivity, DME, TBA, and MTBE all compare favorably with methanol. In terms of rate of reaction in the atmosphere, DME, MTBE, and TBA are 1.4, 0.40, and 0.28 times as reactive as CH3OH towards OH on a per carbon basis. With regard tochemistry, atmospheric oxidation of CH3OH yields highly reactive H2CO as the sole carbon‐containing product. In contrast, only 25% of the carbon in TBA is converted to H2CO, with the balance yielding unreactive acetone. For DME, all the carbon is converted to methyl formate which is unreactive. Finally, for MTBE, 60% is converted to unreactive TBF while the remaining 40% produces highly reactive MMP. Final assessment of the impact of these materials on the atmospheric reactivity of vehicle emissions requires the determination of their emissions rates under realistic operating conditions. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.