Zwitterionic surfactant compounds and their use in connection with absorbent paper manufacture in debonder and softener formulations. An exemplary surfactant is an imidazolinium compound of formula: wherein X is SO3, R1 is a hydrocarbyl spacer group having a chain length of from 2-6 carbon atoms, R2 is a hydrocarbyl group having from 8 to 22 carbon atoms; and R3 is an alkenylamidoalkyl moiety having from 8 to 30 carbon atoms.