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What are fuel oxygenates ?

Oxygenates are compounds containing oxygen in a chain of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Today, oxygenates are blended into gasoline in two forms: alcohols or ethers.

In alcohols, each oxygen atom is linked to a carbon atom and a hydrogen atom, forming a carbon-oxygen-hydrogen sequence. Ethanol is the most commonly used alcohol oxygenate. In ethers, each oxygen atom is linked to two carbon atoms, forming a carbon-oxygen-carbon sequence. Methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether, or MTBE, is the most commonly used ether oxygenate, followed by the biofuel ethyl-tertiary-butyl-ether, or ETBE, and tertiary-amyl-methyl-ether, or TAME.