Numerical simulation was made of transient mass transfer to a surfactant contaminated buoyancy-driven drop controlled by appreciable resistance in both liquid phases. For this purpose, the momentum equations were formulated and solved in a boundary-fitted orthogonal coordinate system. On the basis of resolved hydrodynamics of the contaminated drop, the transient mass transfer was formulated and solved in the same coordinate system. In order to check the applicability of the numerical scheme, single drop extraction experiments were conducted in a totally closed droplet file column with the terminal effect efficiently eliminated. The MIBK-acetic acid-water system was used with small quantities of SDS (sodium dodecyl sulphate), Triton X-100, or Tween 80 introduced into the continuous phase. For these experimental cases, the flow field and the drag coefficient of a contaminated drop were simulated first. The numerical prediction of the drag coefficient is found in good agreement with the corresponding experimental data. It illustrates that the behavior of a drop approaches that of a rigid sphere and that about 100 times higher bulk concentration of SDS than that of Triton X-100 is required for the same extent contamination of a MIBK drop of the same size. Then the information of the flow field of a contaminated MIBK drop was used in simulating the transient mass transfer of solute into the drop. The resulted extraction fraction and overall mass transfer coefficient are in reasonable coincidence with the experimental data. Both numerical results and experimental data show that overall mass transfer coefficient of a heavily contaminated drop is only about one third of that in the pure system. This can be explained well by the distribution of the local Sherwood number, which drops down abruptly along the rear stagnant surface. Also the interfacial resistance of adsorbed surfactant was incorporated in the mass transfer model and then estimated by the least square fitting the simulation with data. The numerical results also show that Tween 80 presents obvious interfacial resistance on the acetic acid diffusing across the interface, whereas SDS and Triton X-100 show no interfacial resistance. It is suggested that the numerical simulation can be resorted in some solvent extraction systems containing surfactants to conduct numerical experiments and parametric study. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.