In the case of parties who wish to blend butane into RFG or conventional gasoline, what options are available for meeting the testing requirements that apply to this activity?

The addition of blendstock, including butane, to RFG or conventional gasoline would constitute the production of gasoline, with the result that the blender would be considered a refiner under the RFG and anti-dumping regulations, and would be subject to all standards and requirements that apply to refiners.

These requirements include meeting the standards applicable to RFG or conventional gasoline, and every-batch sampling. See the answers to Questions IX-B-5 and -7 in the July 1, 1994 Question and Answer Document. Under §§ 80.65(i) and 80.101(e)(1) the RFG or conventional gasoline with which the blendstock is blended must be excluded from the blender-refiner's compliance calculations. In effect, the RFG standards must be met based on the blendstock properties alone. Under § 80.101(i)(1)(i), refiners who produce conventional gasoline by combining blendstock with previously-certified conventional gasoline may determine compliance with the anti-dumping standards by sampling and testing the blendstock following each receipt of blendstock.

A party who blends butane into gasoline will be treated as complying with the refiner requirements without separately sampling and testing each batch of butane received, provided that:

1) The butane is blended with conventional gasoline only, and not with RFG.

2) If the butane is blended into gasoline that will be used during the period May 1 through September 15, the blender-refiner must sample and test the RVP of the gasoline subsequent to each occasion when butane is blended, and the results of this testing must be equal to or less than the applicable volatility standard, without the application of any enforcement tolerance.

3) The blender-refiner obtains specification documents from the supplier of the butane which include the purity of the butane.

a) The butane must be commercial grade, 95% pure butane, and must meet the contaminate levels listed in the following table, which must be reflected in the documents obtained from the butane supplier:

olefins # 1.0 vol%
aromatics # 2.0 vol%
benzene # 0.03 vol%
sulfur # 140 ppm

b) In the alternative, the butane must meet the contaminate levels listed in the following table, which must be reflected in the documents obtained from the butane supplier:

olefins # 10.0 vol%
aromatics # 2.0 vol%
benzene # 0.03 vol%
sulfur # 140 ppm

And the blender-refiner must conduct a quality assurance program of sampling and testing the butane obtained from each separate butane supplier to corroborate the supplier's specification documents. The frequency of butane sampling and testing must be one sample for every 65 truck loads of butane, or every 17 rail cars of butane, received from a butane supplier, or one sample every three months, whichever is more frequent. Analysis of the quality assurance samples must demonstrate the butane complies with the purity levels listed in the table under this item 3b.

In the conduct of the quality assurance program, the butane must be sampled according to ASTM D1265, the butane must be analyzed for aromatics, benzene, and olefin levels using ASTM D2163, and for sulfur content using ASTM D2784.

4) The butane supplier's specification documents must be based on sampling and testing of the supplier's stored butane that reflects the properties of the butane that was delivered to the blender-refiner.

5) The blender-refiner must retain copies of all butane supplier specification documents, and the results of all quality assurance sampling and testing, for a period of five years, and must make these documents available for EPA inspection on request.

6) The blender-refiner may use the purity levels specified in item 3, above, in order to include the butane used in the anti-dumping compliance calculations under § 80.101(g), and may treat the butane received during each calendar month as a single, separate batch.(10/3/94)

This question and answer was posted at Consolidated List of Reformulated Gasoline and Anti-Dumping Questions and Answers: July 1, 1994 through November 10, 1997 (PDF)(333 pp, 18.17 MB, EPA420-R-03-009, July 2003, About PDF)