So by taking these out of petroleum, would it make it cleaner burning, and by what degree?
That's to be determined. They didn't give any numbers. I just know that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are widely known to be one of the biggest bad actors in the environment.
"To test the scavenging potential of the molecule, the researchers mixed it with a sample of crude oil and were able to extract a number of PAHs into aqueous solution and regenerate the empty ExBox. This demonstrates the molecule’s potential as a way to remove harmful PAHs from the environment, says Juríček."
How long can it be regenerated is one question, but that such organic chemicals can be extracted using water based solutions is quite remarkable.