December 5, 2014 

API Response to request for feedback on EPA’s Draft Tier 3 Technical Amendments 

Feedback received by API from our members is listed below. The responses are consolidated 

with duplicates deleted, and are copy/pasted below; so please excuse the lack of uniformity in the 

format of each comment. 

Comment 1 

Summarized findings are below: 

A. Regarding the performance based testing, all the changes are consistent with requests 

made by API previously. I would like to see 80.47 (l) subsections on absolute fuel 

parameters (sulfur) be more consistent in the non-VCSB nomenclature. Clarification is 

needed because there are different rules for VCSB and non-VCSB sulfur 

testing. Recommendations are in yellow below. 

B. It should be noted in Section 80.85 Pentane Blender that reporting for pentane addition 

during VOC season will be required by refiner for each refinery. The original language 

did not require per refinery reporting. (We may have already been reporting as now 

requested, but wanted to draw attention to this.) 

C. In Section 80.163, paragraph b(3), the amount of sulfur contribution by gasoline additives 

will not be allowed to exceed 3 ppm sulfur maximum. (The existing language requires 

additive manufacturers to produce additives that do not exceed 3 ppm sulfur per their 

recommended treat rate. The new language reinforces this requirement at the 

blender.) Unfortunately, one of our additives for silver strip is occasionally applied at 

levels that could contribute up to 8 ppm sulfur max. (Shawn is confirming this.) The 

subsequent 80.163 paragraph c (which is not in the draft) says that if the additive does not 

conform to the prescribed requirements, then the blend is subject to all of the requirements 

in Subpart O including 80.1640, which covers adding new blendstock to previously 

certified gasoline. We need to investigate if we are meeting these requirements for our 

additized fuel. 

Relevant excerpts: 

80.47 (l) – from page 8 of draft 

(l) Qualification criteria for Voluntary Consensus Standard Based (VCSB) Method-Defined Parameter Test 

Method and Non-voluntary Consensus Standard Based (non-VCSB) Absolute Fuel Parameter of Sulfur in 

Gasoline and Butane.

(1) (i) Beginning January 1, 2016, the test facility or VCSB include full test method documentation by the 

Voluntary Consensus Standard Based (VCSB) organization, including a description of the technology 

and/or instrumentation that makes the method functional. 

(ii) For Non-voluntary Consensus Standard Based (non-VCSB) Absolute Fuel Parameter of Sulfur in 

Gasoline and Butane, the test facility or VCSB [the method is non-VCSB] include full test method 

documentation, including a description of the technology and/or instrumentation that makes the 

method functional.

(2) (i) The test facility or VCSB include information reported in the test method that demonstrates the test 

method meets the applicable precision information for the method defined fuel parameter as described in 

this section. 

(ii) For the non-VCSB absolute fuel parameter of sulfur in gasoline and butane, the test facility or VCSB 

include information reported in the test method that demonstrates the applicable accuracy criteria 

as described in §80.47(b)(2) for gasoline and §80.47(c)(2) for butane.
December 5, 2014 

From 80.85 – page 13 of draft: 

(g) All pentane blended into gasoline during the annual averaging period must be included in annual average 

compliance calculations by a refiner for the each of its refineriesy. 

From 80.1613 – page 22 of draft (with additional text taken from the full document for context) 

. 

80.1613 Standards and other requirements for gasoline additive manufacturers and blenders. 

Gasoline additive manufacturers and blenders must meet the following requirements:

(a) Gasoline additive manufacturers, as defined in 40 CFR 79.2(f), who manufacture additives with a maximum 

allowed treatment rate of 1.0 volume percent or less must meet all the following requirements: 

(1) The additive must contribute no more than 3 ppm on a per gallon basis to the sulfur content of gasoline 

when used at the maximum recommended treatment rate. 

(2) The additive manufacturer must maintain records of its additive production quality control activities which 

demonstrates that the sulfur content of additive production batches complies with the sulfur requirement in 

paragraph (a)(1) of this section and make these records available to EPA upon request. 

(3) The maximum treatment rate on the product transfer document for the additive must state all the following: 

(i) The maximum registered concentration. 

(ii) The maximum allowed treatment rate which corresponds to the maximum registered concentration. The

maximum allowed concentration must be less than 1.0% by volume. 

(b) Any person who blends an additive that meets the requirements of paragraph (a) in this section into PCG is not 

subject to any requirement of this subpart O, except the downstream gasoline sulfur standard of §80.1604(b) and the 

prohibition in §80.1660(f), if all the following conditions are met: 

(1) The person blends the additive to PCG at a concentration of less than 1.0% by volume. 

(2) The person does not add any other blendstock or additive except for oxygenates meeting the 

requirements of §80.1610 and additives meeting the requirements of this section to PCG. 

(3) The person does not add the additive at a concentration that contributes more than 3 ppm on a per

gallon basis to the sulfur content of gasoline.

(c) Any person who blends any additive that does not meet the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, 

is subject to all of the requirements of this subpart O, including the standards and requirements at §80.1640 that 

apply to refiners producing gasoline by blending blendstocks into PCG. 

(d) Oxygenates subject to the 10 ppm per-gallon sulfur standard and the requirements of §80.1610 are not subject to 

the provisions of this section. On any occasion where the additive blender is solely acting as an oxygenate blender, 

as defined in §80.2(mm), it is subject to the downstream gasoline sulfur standard of §80.1604(b) and the prohibition 

in §80.1660(e). 

CFR 80.1640 

§ 80.1640 Standards and requirements that apply to refiners producing gasoline by blending blendstocks into previously 

certified gasoline (PCG). 

(a) Any refiner who produces gasoline by blending blendstock into PCG, as defined at § 80.2(d), must meet the requirements of § 

80.1630 to sample and 

test every batch of gasoline as follows: 

(1) Exclude the PCG for purposes of demonstrating compliance with the sulfur standards of this subpart O. 

(2) To accomplish the exclusion required in paragraph (a)(5) of this section, the refiner must determine the volume and 

sulfur content of the PCG used at the refinery and the volume of and sulfur content of the gasoline produced at the refinery, 

and use the compliance calculation procedures in paragraphs (a)(3) and (4) of this section. 

(3) For each batch of PCG that is used to produce gasoline the refiner must include the volume and sulfur content of the 

PCG as a negative volume and a 

positive sulfur content in the refiner’s compliance calculations in accord with the requirements at § 80.1603. 

(4) For each batch of gasoline produced at the refinery using PCG and blendstock, the refiner must determine the volume 

and sulfur content of the 

combined product and include each batch of combined product for purposes of sulfur compliance in the refinery’s 

compliance calculations at § 80.1603 

without regard to the presence of previously certified gasoline in the batch. 
December 5, 2014 

(5) The refiner must use any PCG that it includes as a negative batch in its compliance calculations pursuant to § 80.1603 as 

a component in gasoline production during the annual averaging period in which the PCG was included as a negative batch 

in the refiner’s compliance calculations. 

(6) The refiner must also comply with § 80.65(i) when producing RBOB or RFG and § 80.101(g)(9) when producing 

conventional gasoline or CBOB. 

(7) Any negative annual average sulfur value shall be reported as zero and not as a negative result. 

(b) In the alternative, a refiner may sample and test each batch of blendstock when received at the refinery to determine the 

volume and sulfur content, and treat each blendstock receipt as a separate batch for purposes of compliance calculations for the 

annual average sulfur standard and for reporting. This alternative applies only if every batch of blendstock 

used at a refinery during an averaging period has a sulfur content that is equal to, or less than, the applicable per gallon cap 

standard under § 80.1603. 

(c) Refiners who blend only butane into PCG may meet the sampling and testing requirements of this subpart O for sulfur by 

using sulfur test results of the butane supplier, provided that the requirements of § 80.82 are met. 

(d) Refiners who blend only blender grade pentane into PCG may meet the sampling and testing requirements of this subpart O 

for sulfur by using sulfur test results of the pentane supplier, provided that the requirements of § 80.85 are met. 

Comment 2 

There is a discrepancy in the April 28, 2014 publication that was not addressed in the draft amendments. 

Specifically, it is regarding precision criterion for qualifying alternative benzene test method to D3606. On 

page 170 of the document (linked here), Table VI lists the site precision standard deviation qualification 

for benzene as 0.15R (R is reproducibility of D3606-10). 

However, on page 223 (also page 7 of the amendments), it states that the maximum allowable standard 

deviation is 0.3 times the reproducibility (R)...of D3606. So apparently one part of the document specifies 

0.15R and the other part states 0.3R. A correction should be made in the amendments to address the 

discrepancy. 

(i) Precision criteria for approval of 

the method defined fuel parameter of 

benzene in gasoline. (1) Precision. 

Beginning January 1, 2016, for motor 

vehicle gasoline, gasoline blendstock, 

and gasoline fuel additives subject to 

the gasoline standards of this part and 

MSAT2 standards at §§ 80.41, 80.101, 

80.1230, the maximum allowable 

standard deviation computed from the 

results of a minimum of 20 tests made 

over 20 days (tests may be arranged into 

no fewer than five batches or fewer tests 

each, with only one such batch allowed 

per day over the minimum of 20 days) 

on samples using good laboratory 

practices taken from a single 

homogeneous commercially available 

gasoline must be less than or equal to 

0.3 times the reproducibility (R), where 
December 5, 2014 

‘‘R’’ equals the ASTM reproducibility of 

ASTM D3606 (Example: A gasoline 

having a 1Vol% benzene: Maximum 

allowable standard deviation of 20 tests δ0.3*(0.18 Vol%) = 0.054Vol%).