Patent ID: 8298814

Claim:
A method for providing degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, the method comprising: providing a bipolar solvent comprising a non-polar solvent, which is immiscible with water and of a sufficiently non-polar character to dissolve the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, and a polar-solvent, which is soluble with water and fully miscible with the non-polar solvent to form a single phase with the non-polar solvent; dissolving an amount of ozone in the bipolar solvent; dissolving the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds by contacting the bipolar solvent containing the dissolved ozone with the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, the duration of the contacting and concentration of the ozone is sufficient to react the dissolved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds with the ozone to form oxygenated intermediates; adding a first amount of water to the bipolar solvent after contacting the bipolar solvent containing the dissolved ozone with the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds and mixing the bipolar solvent and the first amount of water to form two phases, a non-polar phase and a polar phase, the non-polar phase comprising the non-polar solvent, the polar phase comprising the polar solvent and the oxygenated intermediates; and exposing the polar phase to microbes and diluting the polar phase with a second amount of water to allow the microbes to metabolize and biodegrade the oxygenated intermediates in the diluted polar phase.