Measurement procedure for methyl tertiary butyl ether

Status:

completed 08/1998

Aims:

Methyl tertiary butyl ether is added to carburettor fuels as an anti-knock agent. Furthermore the fuel is better incinerated through the admixture of methyl tertiary butyl ether. Ether has replaced tetraethyl lead as a fuel additive and its portion in some fuels may come to 15 %. As far as an exposition to this substance (e. g. garages) is concerned statements have not been possible until now, because no appropriate measurement procedures were available.

Activities/Methods:

Initiated by the institution for statutory accident insurance and prevention in the mechanichal engineering and metalworking industry a procedure was evaluated at the BG Institute for Occupational Safety - BIA with which both individual and stationary measurements are possible. The sampling medium is activated charcoal. The analytic determination is performed by gas chromatography after desorption with carbon disulfide. The detection limit comes to 0,75mg/m³ for a sampling time of two hours.

Results:

The procedure meets the requirements of DIN EN 482 "Workplace atmospheres - general aquirements for the performance of procedures for the measurement of chemical agents" 1998 and has been used as a standard within the scope of the BG - measurement system for hazardous substances - BGMG since September.

Further informations:

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