An emulsion liquid membrane system was applied to effectively separate nitrate ions from water. Batch experiments were performed to develop suitable emulsion liquid membrane systems, the standard of which stipulates that the efficiency of the extraction is more than 90%. Optimal conditions were obtained by testing the stirring speed selection of internal reagents, selection of extractants, and quantity of emulsion. We found that the efficiency of the new emulsion liquid membrane, developed by us, was more than 94% for the extraction of nitrate ions, and the residence times of these systems are all less than 10 min. A model was developed to simulate the batch extraction. All parameters of the model were obtained from experiments, or calculated by using published correlations. In the model, solutes react reversibly with the internal reagents, and the effective diffusivity of the solutes in emulsion globules is dependent upon the local solute concentration in membrane phase. Numerical solutions are presented for the non-linear equations of this model. We found that the model predictions fit the experimental data quite well.