Solvent extraction with hexane has been studied for use in reclaiming contaminated surfactant solutions for reuse in remediation of hazardous sites. The hexane flow rate, sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) concentration, and contaminant mixture were varied to determine their effects on the removal of multicomponent mixtures of phenanthrene, naphthalene, and biphenyl. Hexane flow rates greater than 60 mL/min were found to remove greater than 80% of phenanthrene and naphthalene after 1.5 hours of extraction time. The mass transfer rate increased until a hexane flow rate of about 60 mL/min was reached and then remained essentially constant. In experiments in which the SDS concentration was varied from 10 to 100 mM in aqueous solutions of mixtures of phenanthrene and naphthalene, the removal percentages for naphthalene were 98, 91, and 82, respectively, for 10, 50, and 100 mM SDS solutions after 2 hours of extraction, and for phenanthrene were 94, 88, and 75%. The mass transfer rates in these experiments increase with increasing SDS concentration. Mixtures of phenanthrene and biphenyl, naphthalene and biphenyl, and phenanthrene, naphthalene, and biphenyl were all removed at rates similar to the removal rates of the individual compounds. Initial mass transfer rate studies and sodium chloride (NaCl) experiments were conducted to investigate which mechanism better described the extraction process, a five-step adsorption/desorption model similar to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism for catalysis or a diffusion model in which solubilized contaminants in micelles diffuse through an aqueous boundary layer to the hexane drop. Experiments with phenanthrene in 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mM SDS were conducted in the extraction column, and the initial rate of mass transfer was calculated for each run. The results were inconclusive as to which step in the mechanism (adsorption, surface exchange of solubilized pollutants, or desorption) was the rate-limiting step. The NaCl experiments showed that increasing the salt concentration in SDS solutions did not increase the mass transfer rate of a mixture of phenanthrene and naphthalene, suggesting that the micelles may not have to actually adsorb onto the hexane drops to transfer material, as in the diffusion model.