Worldwide growth of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) capacity will average more than 20%/year during 198994, DeWitt & Co. Inc. predicts
The Houston company said MTBE is entering a second growth stage, this one fueled by growing demand for reformulated gasoline in which a main ingredient is likely to be an oxygenate such as MTBE.
DeWitt said reformulated gasoline is likely to be the choice to meet possible congressional clean air standards instead of methanol and flexible fueled vehicles.
The first growth stage for MTBE was as a high octane component in the manufacture of unleaded gasoline. Wide acceptance among refiners in the U.S., Europe, and the Pacific Rim makes MTBE the fastest growing chemical in the world, DeWitt said in its multiclient study.
MTBE production in the U.S., by far the world's biggest producer of the chemical, amounted to about 75,000 b/d last year. That was considerably less than the country's capacity, mainly because of the propylene oxide business.
The world's No. 1 supplier of MTBE is ARCO Chemical Co., which essentially produces MTBE as a byproduct of its propylene oxide production. ARCO's production of propylene oxide was down last year because of increased competition, and that cut its MTBE volume, DeWitt said. Virtually all U.S. MTBE production was consumed last year, with little inventory carryover to 1990.
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