Esterification reactions carried out using various mineral acids are threat to environment hence process modification using commercially viable heterogeneous catalysts are in demand. In current work, the esterification of tri-ethanolamine (TEA, C6H15O3N) with several fatty acids in liquid phase has been investigated on a series of heterogeneous mixed metal oxides catalyst prepared by co-precipitation method, crystallizing with spinel lattice such as, CuFe2O4, ZnFe2O4, CoFe2O4, NiFe2O4 and 10% (w/w) ZnFe2O4 supported on SiO2 and ZrO2. The best catalyst for the selective preparation of 2-(bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino)ethyl alkanoate was 10% (w/w) ZnFe2O4 supported on ZrO2. Detail comparison of a 10% (w/w) ZnFe2O4/ZrO2 prepared by co-precipitation method was carried out with 10% (w/w) ZnFe2O4/ZrO2 prepared by template route for the selective formation of 2-(bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino)ethyl alkanoate. The effects of variety of parameters including effect of catalyst preparation were studied in a batch reactor.