Gasoline ether oxygenate occurrence in Europe, and a review of their fate and transport characteristics in the environment

Report no. 4/12: Ether oxygenates are added to certain gasoline (petrol) formulations to improve combustion efficiency and to increase the octane rating. In this report the term gasoline ether oxygenates (GEO) refers collectively to methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), tertiary amyl methyl ether (TAME), diisopropyl ether (DIPE), tertiary amyl ethyl ether (TAEE), tertiary hexyl methyl ether (THxME), and tertiary hexyl ethyl ether (THxEE), as well as the associated tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA).