In a message dated 99-10-15 14:29:13 EDT, you write:

<< In reading Lyle's report on the Ethanol Study Committee Notes, I'm not sure
 what this means.

 "1. Representative Frevert proposed that the General Assembly establish a
 motor vehicle fuel standard requiring that, with limited exceptions, motor
 vehicle fuel contain three- and five-tenths percent oxygen by weight. The
 proposal was defeated by the Committee."


   How would they have guaranteed that there were "three- and five-tenths
 percent oxygen by weight" in motor fuel?  Can anyone explain this?

 Peggy Murdock >>

Motor fuels are ordinarily composed of hydrocarbons such as octane or
benzene, which are compounds of carbon and hydrogen. Hydrocarbons contain no
oxygen. To add oxygen to a motor fuel, oxygenates, which are oxygen
containing compounds such as ethanol or methyl tert. butyl ether are blended
in.

We know the chemical formulas of oxygenates and hydrocarbons, that is, we
know how many atoms of each of the elements that make up the compound there
are in each molecule of the compound. We also know the atomic weights of the
elements, from which we can calculate the molecular weights.

With all this information, and with knowledge of the proportion, by weight,
of each of the compounds (ethanol, benzene, etc.) that make up the mixture of
compounds that is a given motor fuel, we can calculate the percentage by
weight of oxygen in the fuel.

We can of course calculate for the specific instance cited, how much of, say,
ethanol, it would take to raise the percentage by weight of oxygen in a given
fuel to 3.5 percent.

Tom Mathews

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