Digestate Dryer Manufacturer in Spain
See how we dry Digestate FibreLooking for digestate dryers manufacturers in Spain? STRONGA builds FlowDrya lines to order at its Hertfordshire works and supplies them to Spain — see the regulatory and economic context below.
FlowDrya digestate dryers are built to order at STRONGA's Hertfordshire works and supplied to anaerobic-digestion operators here, with no commissioned line on local soil yet. Whole or separated digestate is bulky and wet, expensive to store and to spread within tightening nutrient rules, and it degrades if held. Drying the fibre fraction concentrates the nutrients into a stable, transportable product that can travel to the arable land that needs it, rather than being tankered short distances at a loss. To be marketed as a soil improver it must satisfy Real Decreto 506/2013 or carry the CE marking under EU Regulation 2019/1009; a dried, stabilised fibre meets those pathogen and contaminant limits far more readily than a live, wet slurry.
Supplying Spain
We supply Spain from our Hertfordshire works — we have no documented Digestate Fibre installation in Spain yet.
Regulatory context
Ley 7/2022, de 8 de abril, de residuos y suelos contaminados para una economía circular is the backbone of Spanish waste law. It transposes EU Directive 2018/851, entrenches the waste hierarchy — prevention, preparation for re-use, recycling, other recovery including energy, and disposal last — and sets binding targets: at least 55 per cent of municipal waste prepared for re-use and recycled by 2025, rising to 65 per cent by 2035, with no more than 10 per cent of municipal waste sent to landfill by 2035. Drying a wet residue into a fuel or a soil product is a recovery route ranked above burial, and it helps operators meet those diversion goals.
Source: https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2022-5809 · checked 2026-08
Since 1 January 2023 Spain applies a state tax on the deposit of waste in landfill and on its incineration and co-incineration (impuesto sobre el depósito de residuos en vertederos, la incineración y la coincineración de residuos), created by Ley 7/2022 and ceded to the autonomous communities, which may raise the rates. The state rate for non-hazardous municipal waste sent to landfill is 40 euros per tonne; municipal waste incinerated is taxed at 20 euros per tonne for disposal or 15 euros per tonne for energy recovery; waste co-incinerated in cement kilns and similar plants is taxed at 0 euros per tonne. The structure deliberately rewards diverting a prepared fuel to co-processing over burial.
Source: https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/organismos/economiahaciendayfondoseuropeos/areas/tributos-juego/tributos/paginas/imp-residuos.html · checked 2026-08
Compost and other organic amendments sold to farmers in Spain must comply with Real Decreto 506/2013 sobre productos fertilizantes, which fixes the permitted raw materials, the pathogen limits and the heavy-metal classes A, B and C, and requires registration in the Registro de Productos Fertilizantes before a product can be placed on the market. A dried, stabilised material holds those quality limits far more readily than a wet, actively degrading feedstock.
Source: https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2013-7540 · checked 2026-08
Since 16 July 2022 the EU Fertilising Products Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 has offered an alternative, harmonised route: a conforming compost or digestate-derived product can carry the CE marking (marcado CE) and circulate across the EU, coexisting with the national Real Decreto 506/2013 route. Either way, drying to a controlled, low moisture underpins the consistency and safety a marketable soil product must demonstrate.
Source: https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/agricultura/temas/medios-de-produccion/productos-fertilizantes · checked 2026-08
Applicable standards: EN ISO 21640, EN ISO 17225-4, EN ISO 18134, Real Decreto 506/2013 fertiliser-product classes.
Economic context
The waste tax makes disposal the expensive option and co-processing the cheap one. Burying a tonne of non-hazardous municipal waste carries a state charge of 40 euros, while a tonne co-incinerated as fuel in a cement kiln is charged 0 euros — before an autonomous community adds its own surcharge. Every tonne of wet residue turned into a dried, kiln-ready fuel therefore side-steps a growing burial cost while creating a saleable product.
Source: https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/organismos/economiahaciendayfondoseuropeos/areas/tributos-juego/tributos/paginas/imp-residuos.html · checked 2026-08
Conversion cost matters. Eurostat data put the price of electricity for medium-sized Spanish industrial consumers at about 0.12 euros per kilowatt-hour, so boiling water off with resistance heating is uneconomic; a dryer that runs on recovered process, exhaust or kiln heat and very little electrical power is what keeps drying viable.
Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/spain/electricity-prices-non-household-medium-size-consumers-eurostat-data.html · checked 2026-08
Heavy industry also pays for carbon under the EU Emissions Trading System, where allowances traded around 80 euros per tonne of CO2 in late 2025 (83.79 euros on 15 December 2025). Every tonne of coal or petroleum coke a dried waste- or biomass-derived fuel displaces in a kiln avoids a real and rising per-tonne carbon cost on top of the fuel saving.
Source: https://carboncredits.com/eu-carbon-prices-hit-2025-highs-as-2040-climate-target-tightens-the-market/ · checked 2026-08
Worked illustration (assumptions stated):
The case rests on haulage, compliance and energy. Wet digestate is mostly water, so drying the fibre slashes the tonnage transported and lets the nutrients reach distant arable demand economically. A conforming, dried product meets the fertiliser-marketing rules and can be sold rather than given away. The plants themselves are part of the PNIEC's renewable push, and their biogas CHP throws off exactly the low-grade heat a dryer needs – important because industrial electricity near 0.12 euros per kWh makes electric drying uneconomic. Where a digester also upgrades or displaces fossil energy, the ETS carbon allowance near 80 euros per tonne of CO2 adds to the incentive. Assumptions: nutrient offtake, heat availability and haulage distance govern the payback.
Figures are indicative and were last reviewed August 2026; energy and disposal prices move — contact us for a current assessment.
Digestate Dryer Manufacturer in Spain — FAQ
Do you supply digestate dryers here?
Yes, from our Hertfordshire factory. We hold no commissioned digestate line on local soil yet and will not imply one; the platform is the same continuous-flow FlowDrya proven on our British reference sites.
Why dry digestate?
Whole digestate is bulky, wet and costly to store and spread. Drying the fibre fraction concentrates the nutrients into a stable product that can be transported to the arable land that needs it.
Can dried digestate be sold as a fertiliser here?
Yes, if it meets Real Decreto 506/2013 or carries the CE marking under EU Regulation 2019/1009. A dried, stabilised fibre holds the required pathogen and contaminant limits far more readily than a wet slurry.
What heat source suits a digestate dryer?
The biogas CHP engine on the same site typically supplies the low-grade waste heat the dryer needs, which is far cheaper than industrial electricity near 0.12 euros per kWh.
How does drying help with nutrient rules?
By concentrating nitrogen and phosphorus into a lighter, documented product, drying lets the nutrients be moved to where they can be applied within the rules, instead of over-applying wet digestate near the plant. It also frees scarce lagoon and tank capacity, easing the seasonal bottleneck that otherwise forces uneconomic local disposal.
How is a digestate plant shipped and commissioned from the UK?
Each dryer is fully assembled and factory-tested at our works, then dismantled for freight. On arrival it is reassembled, connected to the site's heat supply and brought online through a structured start-up, shutdown and supervised trial before handover.