Improvement of Antiknocking Characteristics of Iraqi Gasoline

Tetraethyl lead (TEL), which is a common additive to the Iraqi pool gasoline, is usually classified- among the most toxic selective additive even when it is added at low doses (~ 1.5-2.0 %v/v). The present work was devoted to prepare and investigate the effect of phenyl tert-butyl ether as an alternative selective additive to the Iraqi pool gasoline produced in Doura Refinary-Midland Refineries Co. Comparing with other additives-except TEL-, it was found that phenyl tert-butyl ether increased RON of  Doura pool gasoline by (5.7 to 10%) at a dose of 5%v/v and it increased RON by (4.5 to 11.9%) at a dose of 8%v/v. Moreover, it appears to have no adverse human health effects which make the suggested additive promising for increasing the anti-knocking characteristic of Iraqi gasoline.