The performance of Extractant Impregnated Resin (EIR) technology for extraction of aldehydes from aqueous solutions has been investigated. The extraction capabilities of several different aliphatic and aromatic primary amines towards aldehydes were tested and compared. Aliphatic amines showed high affinity. The most promising extractant, Primene (R) JM-T, was immobilized in a porous particle. As a solid support three different macroporous adsorbents were tested, XAD-16, MPP and Stamypor. Their capacities for the removal of aldehydes were compared with the non-impregnated resin and the resin impregnated with the non-reactive solvent. It was shown that the addition of a reactive extractant can increase the adsorption capacity of an otherwise poor adsorbent for several orders of magnitude. The capacity for the removal of aldehydes was increased with the increase of amine loading on the particle. Temperature influence on the sorption of benzaldehyde on fully impregnated MPP was studied. It was shown that with temperature increase, sorption capacity is increased. The stability of EIRs regarding the loss of the extractant due to the leakage in water was also studied. It was shown that immobilization reduces the extractant's solubility in water. Sorption kinetics was investigated for fully impregnated XAD-16 and MPP. The modified shrinking core model was used to determine the rate controlling step and it was shown that this sorption is most likely controlled by both chemical reaction and diffusion in the particle. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.