ABSTRACT
Methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE) is released to the environment from its storage and use as an octane booster in unleaded gasoline. MTBE will volatilize from the surface of soils, but it will be highly mobile in soil and may leach to ground water. MTBE will be released as a result of its use as an octane booster in unleaded gasoline. Using estimated physical-chemical properties and/or analogies to other structurally related aliphatic ethers, MTBE in water will not adsorb significantly to sediment or suspended particulate matter, bioconcentrate in aquatic organisms, hydrolyze, directly photolyze, nor react with photochemically produced hydroxyl radicals in the water. MTBE in surface water will rapidly volatilize. In air, MTBE is expected to exist almost entirely in the vapor phase given its vapor pressure of 249 mm Hg at 25 °C. No data concerning the biodegradation of MTBE in environmental media were located.
