Bio-based surfactants are increasingly important as an alternative to traditional petro-based surfactants owing to their renewable feedstocks and various applications in many industrial fields such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this study, a new bio-based zwitterionic surfactant with strong interfacial activity at high temperature up to 120 °C was developed through the modification of the methyl oleate derived from renewable non-edible oils. The synthetic route was optimized to promote the conversion rate of quaternization by precisely controlling and timely monitoring the residues of intermediates, and the interfacial activity of the final product was greatly improved after the optimization. This work consolidated our hypothesis that the removal of the residual intermediates of amidation and promotion of the conversion rate of quaternization certainly contributed to enhancing the interfacial activity of the final product, and it will facilitate the design of a sustainable alternative to petro-based chemicals used in EOR.

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