Synthesis of Green Surfactant for Sustainability

Although surfactants are essential to many businesses, their non-renewable sources and associated ecological effects sometimes raise environmental concerns. To investigate and create effective ways to synthesize eco-friendly surfactants from bio-based, renewable, and eco-friendly materials. Used cooking oil has been considered as an alternative natural feedstock source to lower the price of surfactant. For improved oil recovery in the petroleum industries, ricinoleic acid methyl ester, which is derived from spent cooking oil, was synthesized into sodium methyl ester sulfonate (SMES), a novel surfactant. By testing the surface tension with and without sodium chloride and its thermal stability at reservoir temperature, the performance of SMES was investigated. A crucial factor is the co surfactant/SMES-oil-water system’s phase behavior.