%I Taylor and Francis Inc. %P 647-654 %J Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology %T Synthesis of a New CO2 Philic Surfactant for Enhanced Oil Recovery Applications %V 35 %R 10.1080/01932691.2013.803253 %K Activation energy; Enhanced recovery; Enzyme kinetics; Esterification; Maleic anhydride; Reaction kinetics; Surface active agents; Surface tension; Enzyme kinetics; Surface active agents, Diesters; Enhanced oil recovery; EOR; Esterification reactions; First order reactions; Fumarates, Carbon dioxide; Surface tension %L scholars5393 %O cited By 20 %X The synthesis of CO2 philic surfactant using maleic anhydride and 4-tert-butylbenzyl alcohol is reported. We reacted maleic anhydride with 4-tert-butylbenzyl alcohol to form bis(4-(tert-butyl)benzyl) fumarate and sulfonated the produced diester. The esterification reaction was optimized for a maximum yield of 98 of bis(4-(tert-butyl)benzyl) fumarate. First-order reaction kinetics with respect to acid was observed. The activation energy was found to be 55.62 kJ/mol. The sulfonated product of diester was obtained by the sulfonation reaction and the yield of 82 of surfactant was achieved. The in-house developed surfactant effectively lowered down the IFT between CO2/brine to 4.2 mN/m. This surfactant is targeted for CO2-EOR applications. © 2014 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. %N 5 %A M. Sagir %A I.M. Tan %A M. Mushtaq %A L. Ismail %A M. Nadeem %A M.R. Azam %D 2014