Novel bio-based surfactant for chemical enhanced oil recovery in montmorillonite rich reservoirs: Adsorption behavior, interaction impact, and oil recovery studies

- Novel bio-based surfactant was introduced for enhanced oil recovery in MMT rich reservoirs.
- The adsorption behavior, interaction impact, and oil recovery was thoroughly investigated.
- The Freunlich isotherm model was more suitable to anticipate the adsorption behavior of surfactant on MMT.
- The adsorbed surfactant restrained the swelling potential of MMT extremely.
- The proposed surfactant improved the sweep efficiency of water flooding about 11.73%.