Combined use of inert diluents with polar modifiers enables former to be utilized for the recovery of polar value-added chemicals. The results show that polarities of both solvent and modifier are critical for efficient separations. Thus, K D values with 1-octanol were higher than those with 1-decanol; while those with xylene were superior to those with hexane and toluene.Increasing amine concentrations increased the K D values, in contrast to the trends with pH and temperature. About 33%, 79% and 67% of acetic acid was recovered using 25% (v/v) Alamine 336 in xylene, 1-octanol and 30% 1-octanol-modified xylene, respectively.A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 2 Therefore, solvent modification positively affects the extraction power of inert diluents for acetic acid recovery.