An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help

Section 80.41(h)(1) specifies that RFG may contain no heavy metals. What specifically does that mean, and is a refiner required to test for the presence of heavy metals?

The prohibition of heavy metals in RFG means that heavy metals may not be added, nor may it contain more than trace levels that may be picked up from the transportation/distribution system. In fact, no substantially similar unleaded gasoline may contain any elements purposely added outside of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. Refiners are not required to test for heavy metals; however, quality control measures should be in place to ensure that heavy metals are not being added.(7/1/94)

This question and answer was posted at Consolidated List of Reformulated Gasoline and Anti-Dumping Questions and Answers: July 1, 1994 through November 10, 1997 (PDF)(333 pp, 18.17 MB, EPA420-R-03-009, July 2003, About PDF)