Phillips 66 Co. will introduce and test emissions from a reformulated unleaded midgrade gasoline in the St. Louis metropolitan area on Earth Day, Apr. 22.
The 89 octane gasoline, the first environmentally reformulated motor fuel to be sold in the St. Louis area, will be priced between Phillips' 87 octane regular unleaded and 92 octane premium unleaded.
Phillips SuperClean Unleaded Plus features cuts in levels of aromatics and olefins of 20-30%, benzene of about 35%, and sulfur of 33%. It also contains methyl tertiary butyl ether to raise oxygen levels, less butane in the summer, and detergent additives for valve deposit control.
Phillips will sell the fuel at 125 service stations in St. Clair and Madison counties, Ill.; St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin and Jefferson counties, Mo.; the city of St. Louis; and Phillips stations in surrounding areas served by the company's East St. Louis terminal. Phillips will produce as much as 6,000 b/d of SuperClean Unleaded at its Sweeny, Tex., refinery and transport it via common carrier pipeline to the East St. Louis terminal.
TESTING PROGRAM
Phillips will begin a 6 month test to gauge emissions reductions from the reformulated gasoline to coincide with its introduction.
The research will compare vehicle emissions from samples of average midgrade blends of all gasolines sold in the St. Louis area with those of the new fuel. An independent research laboratory will measure carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and reactive hydrocarbons emissions from automobiles ranging in model years from pre-1975 to 1990. Test results will be used to predict the emissions' effect on ozone formation in the St. Louis area.
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