AbstractCitric acid is one of the most widely used acids in industry, and its recovery from waste streams is critical. Emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) is one of the most effective recovery methods that has been investigated in recent years. Numerous transport phenomena parameters affect the efficiency of this process. From the process equipment design point of view, optimization based on overall cost is of great importance, and important equipment sizing decisions/constraints must be considered. A physics‐based model for a full‐scale simulation of ELM systems is very useful. This work is focused on developing and verifying such a model. A coupled particle/mixture simulation was carried out in this work, and the modelling results were fitted on the experimental data. The novelty of this modelling work is physics‐based results based on the system's geometry and its effects on the mass transfer resistances. Since the model is physics‐based, the model is capable of simulating similar systems with any geometry or experimental conditions.