A refiner for any refinery where gasoline is produced by adding blender-commercial grade pentane or blender-non-commercial grade pentane meeting the requirements of §80.86 to previously certified gasoline (PCG) may meet the sampling and testing requirements for this part as follows:

(a) Any refiner that blends pentane for which the refiner has product transfer documents from a registered pentane supplier which demonstrate that the pentane is blender-commercial grade, as defined in §80.86(a)(3), may demonstrate compliance with the standards in this part based on the properties specified in §80.86(a)(3), or the properties specified by the pentane supplier, provided that the refiner does all the following:

(1) Obtains a copy of the pentane supplier's test results at the time of each transfer of pentane to the pentane blender that indicates that the blender-commercial grade pentane complies with the requirements of §80.86(a)(3).

(2) Conducts a quality assurance program of sampling and testing the pentane obtained from each separate pentane supplier using test procedures that have been approved by the Administrator which demonstrates that the pentane has the properties specified in §80.86(a)(3). Samples and tests the pentane received from each pentane supplier at a frequency of one sample for every 350,000 gallons of pentane received, or one sample every three months, whichever is more frequent.

(3) Enters into a contract with all parties who transport or store blender-commercial grade pentane for use by the refiner to assure that an adequate quality assurance program is implemented to ensure that blender-commercial grade pentane will not be contaminated in transit to the refinery.

(b) Any refiner that blends pentane for which the refiner has product transfer documents from a registered pentane supplier which demonstrate that the pentane is blender-non-commercial grade, as defined in §80.86(a)(4), may demonstrate compliance with the standards in this part based on the properties specified in §80.86(a)(4), or the properties specified by the pentane supplier, provided that the refiner does all the following:

(1) Obtains a copy of the pentane supplier's test results at the time of each transfer of pentane to the pentane blender that indicates that the blender-non-commercial grade pentane complies with the requirements of §80.86(a)(4).

(2) Conducts a quality assurance program of sampling and testing the pentane obtained from each separate pentane supplier using test procedures that have been approved by the Administrator which demonstrates that the pentane has the properties specified in §80.86(a)(4). Samples and tests the pentane received from each pentane supplier at a frequency of one sample for every 250,000 gallons of pentane received, or one sample every three months, whichever is more frequent.

(3) Enters into a contract with all parties who transport or store blender-non-commercial grade pentane for use by the refiner to assure that an adequate quality assurance program is implemented to ensure that blender-non-commercial grade pentane will not be contaminated in transit to the refinery.

(c) When pentane is blended with conventional gasoline under this section during the period May 1 through September 15, the refiner shall demonstrate through sampling and testing, using the test method for Reid vapor pressure in §80.46 or §80.47 as applicable, that each batch of conventional gasoline blended with pentane meets the volatility standards specified in §80.27, and in any EPA approved SIP.

(d) When pentane is blended with conventional gasoline, CBOB, reformulated gasoline, or RBOB under this section, product transfer documents which accompany the gasoline blended with pentane must comply with all of the requirements of §80.77 or §80.106, as appropriate.

(e) Pentane blended with conventional gasoline, CBOB, reformulated gasoline, or RBOB during a period of up to one month may be included in a single batch for purposes of reporting to EPA, if the refiner meets the sample compositing requirements in §80.91(d)(4)(iii), and reports blender-commercial grade and blender-non-commercial grade pentane as separate batches.

(f) The provisions of this section may not be used for any pentane blended with any reformulated gasoline or RBOB during the period April 1 through September 30, or with any reformulated gasoline or RBOB designated as VOC-controlled.

(g) All pentane blended into gasoline during the annual averaging period must be included in annual average compliance calculations by a refiner for each of its refineries.

(h) If any of the requirements of this section are not met, in whole or in part for any pentane blended into gasoline, that pentane is deemed in violation of the gasoline standards in §80.1603(a).

(i) If a refiner does not fully implement the requirements of this section, it may not rely on test results from the pentane producer, and may only blend pentane with gasoline if it fully complies with all applicable requirements of this part 80, including the sampling and testing requirements applicable to refiners who produce gasoline by adding blendstocks to PCG.

[79 FR 23645, Apr. 28, 2014, as amended at 80 FR 9095, Feb. 19, 2015]