Benzene in gasoline

Quach, D. T. Giszkowski, N. A. Einlayson-Pitts, B. J. A New GG-MS Experiment for the Undergraduate Instrumental Analysis Laboratory in Environmental Ghemistry Methyl-f-butyl Ether and Benzene in Gasoline, /. Chem. Educ. 1998,... 

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 limit the amount of benzene in gasoline in the United States to 1% (7). Initially there was some concern that this would dismpt the benzene supply and demand balance in the chemical industry because at that time gasoline contained benzene above 1%. If refiners had to extract all of the benzene above 1%, substantial additional benzene would be produced. However, only modest increases in the quantity of benzene produced from reformer sources is expected as most refiners can adjust the composition of reformer feed and reformer severity to produce less benzene. 

Benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) are valuable as chemical feedstocks and have been solvent extracted for this purpose from refinery streams for decades. Governmental regulations limiting the amount of benzene in gasoline have provided incentives for the extraction of aromatics from gasoline components in recent years and are found in most refineries today. 

Benzene in gasoline can also be measured by infrared spectroscopy (ASTM D-4053). But additional benefits are derived from hyphenated analytical methods such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (ASTM D-5769) and gas chromatography-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) ASTM D-5986), which also accurately measure benzene in gasoline. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method (ASTM D-5769) is based on the Environmental Protection Agency s gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (EPA GC/MS) procedure for aromatics. 

Carrieri, M., Bonfiglio, E., Scapellato, M. L., Macca, 1., Tranfo, G., Faranda, P, Pad, E., and Bartolucci, G. B. (2006). Comparison of exposure assessment methods in occupational exposure to benzene in gasoline filling-station attendants. Toxicol Lett 162, 146-152. 

Talsky 1978 2, 3, 4 Metal ions benzene in ethanol aniline and phenol in wastewater arenes in waste gases benzene in gasoline 108... 

Chemical composition does not generally come into play, except for the case where it is necessary to establish maximum specifications for undesirable compounds such as sulfur, nitrogen, and metals, or even more unusually, certain compounds or families of compounds such as benzene in premium gasolines. By tradition, the refiner supposedly possesses numerous degrees of freedom to generate products for which the properties but not the composition are specified. 

Cumene. Cumene (qv) is produced by Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene by propylene (103,104). The main appHcation of cumene is the production of phenol (qv) and by-product acetone (qv). Minor amounts are used in gasoline blending (105). 

Toluene, Benzene, and BTX Reeoveiy. The composition of aromatics centers on the C - and Cg-fraction, depending somewhat on the boihng range of the feedstock used. Most catalytic reformate is used directiy in gasoline. That part which is converted to benzene, toluene, and xylenes for commercial sale is separated from the unreacted paraffins and cycloparaffins or naphthenes by hquid—hquid extraction or by extractive distillation. It is impossible to separate commercial purity aromatic products from reformates by distillation only because of the presence of azeotropes, although comphcated further by the closeness in boihng points of the aromatics, t/o-paraffin, and unreacted C -, C -, and Cg-paraffins. 

The main producers of benzene in Canada are the Nova Corp. of Alberta, Petro-Canada, Inc., and Shell Canada Ltd. These three companies have an armual capacity of 567,000 t. Most Canadian benzene is obtained from catalytic reformate, pyrolysis gasoline, and hydrodealkylation. Coal is not an important source of benzene in Canada. 

BTX processing has come under steadily increasing pressure to reduce emissions and workplace exposures (see Industrial hygiene). Reductions in the permissible levels of both benzene and total aromatics (BTX) in gasoline have been legislated. Whereas all BTX components ate to be controUed, the main focus is on benzene because it is considerably mote toxic than the others and is classified as a known carcinogen (42). 

The illustrated unit can be used to study vapor-phase reforming of kerosene fractions to high octane gasoline, or hydrogenation of benzene, neat or in gasoline mixtures to cyclohexane and methylcyclopentane. In liquid phase experiments hydrotreating of distillate fractions can be studied. The so-called Solvent Methanol Process was studied in the liquid phase, where the liquid feed was a solvent only, a white oil fraction. 

This multi-column swithching (GC-GC) technique has also been shown to be a powerful method for the separation of benzene and 1-methyl-cyclopentane in gasoline, as well as for the analysis of m-andp-xylenes in ethylbenzene. 

Phillips and Xu have presented two-dimensional (2D) chromatograms of kerosines, separated with different stationary phase combinations, in many thousands of components (37). Frysinger et al. have separate benzene-toluene-ethyl benzene-xylenes (BTEX) and total aromatics in gasolines by using GC X GC... 

Benzene. Most of the benzene in the gasoline pool comes from reformate. Reformate, the high-octane blending component from a reformer unit, comprises about 30 vol% of the gasoline pool. Depending on the reformer feedstock and severity, reformate contains 3 vol to 5 voFf benzene. 

The benzene content of FCC gasoline is typically in the range of 0.6 vol /i to 1.3 vol%. CAAA s Simple Model requires RFC to have a maximum of 1 vol% benzene. In California, the basic requirement is also 1 vol% however, if refiners are to comply with averaging provisions, the maximum is 0.8 vol%. Operationally, the benzene content of FCC gasoline can be reduced by reducing catalyst-oil contact time and catalyst-to-oil ratio. Lower reactor temperature, lower rates of hydrogen transfer, and an octane catalyst will also reduce benzene levels. 

Most of the benzene in the gasoline pool comes from the reformer unit (reformate). To reduce the reformate s benzene, one must modify the feedstock quality and/or operating conditions. Benzene s precursors in the reformer feed (C, and C ) can be prefractionated and sent to an isomerization unit. The reformer operating pressure can be reduced... 

Landmeyer JE, EH Chapelle, PM Bradley, JE Pamkow, CD Chnrch, PG Tratnyek (1998) Pate of MTBE relative to benzene in a gasoline-contaminated aqnifer Ground Water Monit Remed 18 93-102. 

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