Outside Asylum

Posted by petew on June 28, 2000 at 10:18:37:

In Reply to: This is the firecracker nobody has picked up: MTBE posted by PaulN on June 26, 2000 at 16:56:03:

Paul, wanna good laugh? Read the book just out that describes how we got into this methyltertbutyleather mess. It's all about tetraethyl lead (or "Ethyl" gasoline), General Motors, and Du Pont. Even though lead was a well known poison since the time of the Romans, and every doctor, chemist and researcher who had a say, told General Motors it was downright criminal to make the lead into a volitile, soluable organic compound and spread around the globe, concentrating in population centers I might add, they did it anyway, for 50 years! (still doing it in Mexico, don't go there).

This is a funny book. God, did they ever make some cash on that one. One of the best side effects of using TEL as an octane booster (even though ethanol works just as well, is cheaper, renewable, burns clean leaving nothing but CO2 and water) is that it decreases the life of engines by more than half. People believe that the Japanese build great engines that last 300,000 miles. Has nothing to do with engineering. It's the unleaded gas!

I'm telling you, General Motors and Du Pont made a killing on it!