Assembling the Formulation Puzzle: Comparative Evaluation of Biobased and Conventional Microemulsions for Enhanced Oil Recovery

) and moderate viscosities (≤4.13 cP), effectively balancing injectivity with capillary desaturation potential. The synergistic pairing of saponified coconut oil with short-chain alcohols yielded flexible and resilient interfacial films, enabling enhanced performance across thermal and compositional gradients. For the first time, this work demonstrates that renewable surfactant-cosurfactant frameworks not only rival but, under the investigated thermal and salinity conditions, can surpass traditional hydrocarbon-based systems in interfacial behavior and formulation robustness, establishing a scalable and sustainable foundation for next-generation EOR applications.