formation of terpin hydrate particles which can be removed by filtration during the first and second phases the clarity of the solution is monitored going from highly turbid to clear in a typical operation the alcohol concentration of the solution after the addition of distilled water is about 50 v v after the process the 50 alcohol solution can be subjected to distillation in order to further reclaim the alcohol in order to better illustrate the invention an example of the extraction of limonene is described additionally an apparatus for the carrying out the method of removal of limonene is also disclosed however the apparatus is generally applicable to the extraction of other petroleum distillate contaminates including xylene referring to fig1 the apparatus is comprised of a reaction core 3 in a preferred embodiment the reaction core is 36 inches in length and has an outer diameter of 100 mm however the invention contemplates devices encompassing other dimensions as well connected to the core 3 are two storage tanks one of which stores distilled water 1 and the other for storing contaminated alcohol 2 in this example the contaminated alcohol contains limonene as contaminate the method is operationally carried out in two phases in phase i the process is initiated.