Environmental Considerations and the Energy Crisis - the Effect on Gasoline Composition

The current shortage of gasoline and the existence of vehicle emission standards have raised the question of what tomorrow's gasoline will be like. This paper reviews the environmental considerations and the energy supply situation, discusses the likely future processing schemes, and considers the gasoline properties expected in the future. In general, we believe the current processes will continue to be used and future gasolines will have properties similar to present fuels. More octane numbers will be obtained by processing than by the use of lead alkyls, which may result in more aromatics and less sulfur.