For the desalter system as a whole, the typical emulsion breaker is injected into the crude stream as far upstream as possible in order to provide intimate contact. In this case, the emulsion breaker is one that has a hydrocarbon solvent and so is hydrophilic which wants to stay in the oil phase. There are cases where injecting this emulsion breaker into the water phase can help reduce the impact of surfactants that surround the water droplets.
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