wettability alteration due to low salinity water flooding: discussion about optimal deployment scenario

Low salinity waterflooding (lswf) is an interesting hydrocarbon recovery method from both academics and industrial points of view. publication of various experimental, modeling, simulation, and review papers show the scoops of interest in this method. the purpose of this paper is to gather the latest novel observation for optimal deployment and implementation of lswf, including; 1-the philosophy of the chemistry of injected brine, 2- the release and mobility of the oil phase, 3- crude oil-brine-rock (cobr) interactions 4- salinity-dependent wettability alteration 5-shortcomings of the laboratory execution protocols, and 6- modeling lswf by low-salinity relative permeability curves. all in all, instead of reporting another review paper, this paper, for the first time, addresses some practical guides for optimal deployment of lswf. the outcome of this report shows that lowering the salinity is not always the best approach for improving the recovery factor of the reservoirs. the current understanding of the lswf suffers from the view of the point of the authors, and there is not a unique protocol that points and fills the gaps in the literature.