Hemicellulosic hydrolysates contain not only sugars but also several kinds of ethanol fermentation inhibitory substances such as carboxylic acids, furans and phenolic compounds. In this work, emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) was chosen as a separation technology to remove the inhibitors. A basic simulated hemicellulosic hydrolysate was composed of xylose as sugar, dilute sulfuric acid solution as solvent, and acetic acid as carboxylic acid, and furfural as furan derivative or p-hydroxybenzoic acid(HBA) as phenolic compound was added to the hydrolysate when necessary. Acetic acid and HBA as weak acid could be selectively removed from the hydrolysates in all the ELM systems considered here, but furfural as aldehyde was quite hard to remove. Also, when HBA was added to the basic simulated hemicellulosic hydrolysate, both of acetic acid and HBA in the feed phase could be selectively removed up to 99% in an ELM system with tributyl phosphate as extractant.