Substrate bioavailability enhancing chemical mixture for use in

Abstract

A substrate bioavailability enhancing chemical mixture and bioremediation method is disclosed which increases substrate availability in microbial bioremediation and results in increased biodegradation efficiency and completeness while significantly shortening operating time. The mixture contains a surfactant, an emulsifier, an emulsifying solvent, a sequestering agent, and a pH control agent. A preferred mixture also contains a biocatalyst which stimulates the reproductive cycle and rapid multiplication of microbes and thus increases the number of microbes. The mixture emulsifies the oil constituent of contaminants into microscopic oil particles held in suspension in a colloidal state with substantial numbers of the particles being of a size smaller than the microbes that digest it so that indigeneous, or hydrocarbon-digesting microbes which may added prior to use, more efficiently digest the contaminants and multiply exponentially and the increased microbe population more rapidly and completely consumes the contaminated substrate. The mixture is also effective in cleaning contaminated surfaces.