Adrift in a sea of additives.....

[AstoriaDave]

Matt,

The stuff I found on fuel breakdown fingers oxidation, for sure, whether you start with regular or high octane fuel ... the culprits being mainly hydrocarbons with unsaturation, and even some of the aromatics. The question I have really is whether premium ends up with a lower octane than regular, in the end. That seems like a huge change in the premium.

I agree the "gasoline" we get today is a heavily massaged product, which is a far cry from the straight-run stuff, even the fuels enhanced from cracking (brings some of the heavier stuff into the range needed for gasoline) and polymerization. In today's fuels, it is the additives, including ethanol, that enhance the oxidation, I believe, resulting in less stable fuel, whichever grade you use.

I think cracking and polymerization are fairly benign, but I could not find anything to confirm that.