In order to further improve the vanadium (IV) extraction from stone coal leaching solution in one step and reduce the reagent consumption by emulsion liquid membrane (ELM), the experiments using response surface methodology (RSM) was investigated. The liquid membrane was composed of paraffin as membrane stabilizer, D2EHPA as mobile carrier, span80 as surfactant and H2SO4 as stripping solution. Emulsification speed and emulsification time in emulsion formation was optimized to obtain a stable emulsion. An orthogonal 24 Box-Behnken design (BBD) having five replicates at the center point was used to estimate the coefficients of the response function. The linear effects, square effects and interactive effects of the parameters were analyzed by ANOVA. In addition, the signification of the parameters was also ranked. In the further study, the effect of electric demulsification and membrane recycle ability were studied under the optimized parameters. All of the results revealed that RSM was successfully used to optimize the extraction of V (IV) via ELM and indicated the potential industrially application for vanadium concentration and purification in one step from stone coal acid leaching solution. (C) 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.