Sizing up oxyfuels.

• Author: Martin, Ingrid
• Position: Use of oxygenated fuel will foster cleaner air but will cost more

Anchorage and Fairbanks must begin using oxygenated fuels in November. Designed to foster cleaner air, the fuels also will cost more at the pump.

Motorists in Fairbanks and Anchorage could be paying as much as 25 cents more per gallon for gasoline next winter. That's when the federal government requires the sale of oxygenated fuels in both areas. The higher cost results from using additives necessary to make the fuel burn cleaner. The net effect sought, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is consistent compliance with federal air-quality standards.

Anchorage and Fairbanks are 2 of 9 cities in the Pacific Northwest and 41 nationwide, in which air quality does not meet national standards for carbon monoxide, according to EPA. Amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990 require the cities to begin using gasoline fortified with high-oxygen additives by November 1992.

Rules and guidelines proposed last summer by EPA take affect in February. They require stations in both cities to sell "oxyfuels" by Nov. 1. Further, the fuels must be sold from November through February each year. Under the law, carbon monoxide levels may not exceed nine parts per million; only one incidence of noncompliance is allowed per year.

"Any more than that, and you're in violation," says Ron King, a project manager in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) air-quality-management section. DEC is responsible for drafting state regulations to implement and enforce the federal law.

Although requirements won't go into effect for many months, refiners, distributors and gas station owners already are contemplating their implications. Not everyone is convinced the added expense and effort are worthwhile.

Pollution Problem. Carbon monoxide concentrations vary with the weather, building up significantly in the extreme cold, when the air is still, or during temperature inversions. Emissions are especially high when a vehicle is warming up, because the motor uses extra fuel. The problem is exacerbated in Fairbanks by the tendency of motorists to leave cars idling for extended periods during extreme cold.

To combat those effects, gasoline sold in target regions must meet a requirement of 2.7 percent average oxygen content. The addition of oxygenates promotes more complete combustion, reducing carbon monoxide emissions by up to 20 percent, according to EPA.

Oxygen is added by blending compounds such as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) at the...