A facility for treatment of brine in salt baths for salting cheese, comprising:
- a salt bath unit that receives the brine in the salt bath;
- a cheese provision unit, from which a cheese to be salted is fed to a specific volume of the brine in the salt bath in batches or continuously;
- a salt provision unit, from which salt is fed to the brine in the salt bath;
- a water provision unit that provides water for the brine in the salt bath;
- a cheese receiving unit that receives a cheese salted in the brine in the salt bath during a dwell time, accordingly in batches or continuously;
- a first brine separating unit is connected to the salt bath in a fluid-conducting manner via a brine discharge line, wherein the first brine separating unit is configured to separate, using a first membrane separation method, a brine discharged from the salt bath and contaminated by whey and other constituents from the cheese into a brine permeate that is cleaned of the whey and the other constituents and a brine retentate that is contaminated with the whey and the other constituents, and wherein first fractions of dissolved salt are carried along in the brine permeate and second fractions of dissolved salt are carried along in the brine retentate;
- a control apparatus in controlling connection with a status information of the salt bath via a first control connection and with the first brine separating unit via a second control connection, wherein the control apparatus is configured to dimension a flow of the brine discharged from the salt bath and to adjust a first quantitative ratio between the brine permeate and the brine retentate in such a manner that the quantity of brine retentate corresponds at least to the quantity of the whey and the other constituents that passes into the brine in the salt bath in during the dwell time;
- a second brine separating unit configured to transfer, using a second membrane separation method, the brine retentate into a wastewater through desalination, wherein:
- a chloride content of the wastewater does not exceed a statutory limit for introduction into surface water;
- the second fractions of dissolved salt in the brine retentate are transferred into a flow of water and are dissolved therein, and the water and the salt dissolved therein form a cleaned brine;
- and
- the second brine separating unit is connected, in a fluid-conducting manner, to a concentrate drain line for the contaminated brine retentate, which leads to the first brine separating unit, and to a first brine feed line for the cleaned brine and connected, in a fluid-conducting manner, to a wastewater line for the wastewater with a wastewater receiving apparatus and to the water provision unit via a water feed line for the water;
- and
- a permeate drain line for the brine permeate, wherein the permeate drain line and the brine feed line are each connected in a fluid-conducting manner to the salt bath.