The impact of Marangoni convection on the extraction efficiency during the drop formation stage is investigated in the system toluene/acetone/water for different initial solute concentrations and different drop diameters. Both mass transfer directions of the solute have been considered. Marangoni instabilities are supposed to increase the internal mixing and thus enhance mass transfer coefficients. Experimental results show a strong dependency on the mass transfer direction. The amount of solute extracted is between 19% and 55%. The total transferred mass M-A increases with drop diameter and initial concentration. Present models from the literature which predict extraction efficiencies do not take into account interfacial effects like Marangoni convection. A correlation is proposed introducing an effective diffusivity which depends on the initial solute concentration. The diffusivity factor increases linearly with initial solute concentration and is more sensitive in the mass transfer direction c -> d. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.