SAN BERNADINO, Calif. -- Spacecraft maker Kelly Space & Technology Inc. is attempting to bring a new, nontoxic automobile fuel additive to market, says a Ontario, Calif., newspaper. The Business Press says that as the state's deadline to replace the additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) in gasoline nears at yearend, Kelly is the only company to have presented findings to the California Air Resources Board, according to spokesperson Jennet Paauwe.
With its new additive, Kelly Green Oxygenate, Kelly is striving to be the first on the market with an oxygenated fuel additive meant to replace MTBE, an additive used by refineries since the 1970s to reduce engine emissions. The additive, which gradually seeps into groundwater supplies as underground fuel tanks erode, has shown up in studies as a potential cancer-causing agent.
MTBE was banned by California in 1999 and must be phased out of use in gasoline by the end of 2002. Currently, the only MTBE alternative is ethanol, a corn-based fuel produced primarily in the Midwest. MTBE and ethanol are the most common additives used in certain states to comply with the federal Clean Air Act of 1990. The Act mandates that gasoline in those areas carry 2 percent oxygen by weight. Oxygen helps fuel burn cleaner and keeps emissions down.
Kelly Chairman and CEO Michael S. Kelly discovered Kelly Green Oxygenate in 2000. The compound, initially called A-107, was the result of initial nontoxic rocket fuel studies in 1999. The research produced several families of chemical combinations with ingredients found in medications and food additives. In March, Kelly Space established its Global Energy Systems LLC subsidiary to market and license Kelly Green Oxygenate to oil refineries. If the additive lives up to the company’s claims and is approved by officials, licensed refineries would be able to produce it onsite and pump it into their fuel lines.
State-required blind emissions tests to validate Kelly Green Oxygenate were carried out in 2000 at the Environmental Protection Agency-certified Automotive Testing and Development Services Inc., Ontario, says the report.
