In order to overcome the problem of long extraction stages and huge consumption of organic phase in the solvent extraction process, selective separation and recovery of vanadium from a multiple impurity acid leaching solution of stone coal by emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) using di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA), as well as the effects of various parameters (surfactant, carrier, paraffin concentration and treat ratio (TR)) were studied. The extraction behaviors of V (V), V (IV), Fe (III), Fe (II), Mg (II), K (I), Na (I) in ELM process were reported and the effects of various impurities on vanadium extraction were also investigated. Finally, a separation flow sheet for a real solution was designed and an enriched vanadium solution was obtained with V 6.10 g/L, Fe 0.30 g/L, Al 3.20 g/L, Mg 0.62 g/L, K 0.24 g/L, Na 0.20 g/L, which revealed that vanadium was successfully separated and recovered from the stone coal acid solution bearing multiple impurity ions. (C) 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.