I found an article from Chemical and Engineering news that I thought relates to our new topic of green chemistry and our discussion of fuels. The article is about a new EPA regulation that will reduce the amount of benzene, along with other organic compounds, in gasoline. Benzene is a known carcinogen and cars and trucks cause about 70% of the benzene pollution in air. However, this rule does not take effect until 2011. The article also mentions that tougher restrictions are being placed on hydrocarbon emissions from new cars, but will not start going into effect until 2010 continuing to 2015! Why is taking so long for the changes to be made? I’m glad something is being done, but it seems to me that the changes should be implemented faster. According to the article, the price of implementing the new hydrocarbon compounds will not have a huge price tag, which makes me think the change could happen a little faster.
Here is a link to the article:
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i08/8508news2.html
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Thanks for posting this article. I didn't even know that there are amounts of benzene in the gasoline for cars. So is benzene a byproduct during the separation of gasoline from petroleum or something? As for the government taking a long time to implement the rule, it probably has to do with the companies trying to reduce the cost of refinery. In a utopia people would do what is best for humanity and the environment but I suppose it costs too much to refine and reduce the level of benzene. Wouldn't it be wonderful if people care more about the environment and less about money? It's sad to think that someday our posterity might not even have a clean planet to live on.
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