Expert: Mike Fulcher - 12/7/2006

Question
What is the chemical equation for the combustion of gasoline?

Answer
Matthew

Unfortunately, gasoline is a mixture of several hydrocarbon materials, instead of just one.  This makes having a specific reaction, without knowing what all the materials are, impossible.  In the simplest form what you have is the reaction of C and H containing materials (hydrocarbons) with O from the air to get carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O).  The other emissions (NO2, SO2) arise from the combustions of nitrogen and sulphur containing compounds that are a naturally occuring part of crude oil.  Sure, you could clean them all out, but I don't think anyone would be willing to pay for the gas that resulted.  I hope this helps.