Standard plants
GEA COLDSAN® Filtration Brine Sanitation Unit
COLD SANITATION OF CHEESE Brine by MicroFiltration (MF)
Brine cages in cheese brine pool
Securing first-class cheese brine
Dumping of cheese brine is normally very costly, and in some countries it is even prohibited due to the high salt content of the brine. Purification and recycling of the brine is therefore preferable and can provide advantages such as reduced operating costs and improved cheese quality.
Cheese brine, if not treated properly, can contain large amounts of undesired microorganisms, such as gas-producing lactobacilli, pigment-producing micrococcus, pathogenic bacteria, yeast and mold, which all affect the final cheese quality.
Unlike traditional brine treatment methods such as heat treatment, kieselguhr filtration or the addition of preservatives, microfiltration physically removes the undesired microorganisms, dead cells and physical contaminants from the brine without causing any significant change to its chemical composition.
GEA COLDSAN® has the following key advantages:
- Minimum loss of water and salt
- Clean and clear brine
- Total removal of physical impurities
- Over 99% reduction in total bacteria count
- No undesired enzymatic activity
- No pasteurization involved, therefore no protein denaturation, no precipitation of calcium phosphate, and no changes in pH
- Simple and flexible process and easy operation
- Standardized 'Plug & Play' unit
Larger brine pool volumes and fully automated units can be engineered individually to meet the required specifications.
The COLDSAN® unit can either extract a stream from the brine pool, cool it and send it back to the pool via a microfiltration unit. Therefore, the impurities are constantly removed resulting in higher purity of the brine pool. Alternatively, the feed can be returned to a separate pool exclusively for the clarified brine.
| COLDSAN® 15 | COLDSAN® 30 | COLDSAN® 45 | COLDSAN® 60 | COLDSAN® 75 | COLDSAN® 90 | COLDSAN® 120 | |
| Number of modules | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 |
| Module size | 6" | 6" | 6" | 6" | 6" | 6" | 6” |
| Area m2 | 28 | 56 | 84 | 112 | 140 | 168 | 224 |
| Flow l/day | 15.000 | 30.000 | 45.000 | 60.000 | 75.000 | 90.000 | 120.000 |
| Flow l/h | 750 | 1.500 | 2.200 | 3.000 | 3.800 | 4.500 | 6.000 |
NOTE: The data above are theoretical figures only cannot be guaranteed. The calculated flows are based on clean cheese brine.
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