Navigating the Biogas Industry Beyond Chemical Engineering’s Boundary with Rhiad Gajraj - Director of Development
Rhiad Gajraj is a licensed professional engineer in the province of Ontario with extensive experience in solid waste management, renewable energy generation, and wastewater treatment. He is experienced in the complete life cycle of waste-to-value infrastructure projects, including conceptual design, detailed design, construction, commissioning, operations, and closeout. He is currently the Director of Development for Generate Upcycle, a global sustainability leader that develops, owns, and operates waste-to-value infrastructure in Canada, US and UK that diverts organic waste from landfill to be converted into renewable electricity and renewable natural gas, compost, fertilizer, and other soil amendments.
It was a real pleasure to sit down with Rhiad and learn more about his impressive career journey. I had the chance to ask him about the biogas industry, the challenges it faces, his responsibilities as a Director, and his advice for young professionals. Check out the interview below to learn more!
**This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Generate Upcycle owns and operates facilities across Canada, the US, and the UK that divert food waste from landfills and convert it into renewable energy and nutrient-rich soil amendments. We are a global leader in food waste recycling, helping to keep organic waste out of landfills and preventing it from releasing greenhouse gas emissions. By diverting food waste and converting it into renewable energy sources such as electricity or natural gas, we help offset fossil fuel consumption and combat climate change. Additionally, the byproduct of the process is compost, which can be used as a soil amendment, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. This is the core business of our company and the global service we provide.
My responsibility is to lead the development of facilities that utilize anaerobic digestion along with other technologies to convert food waste diverted from landfills into renewable resource streams. In my role, I am supported by a team of engineering consultants, legal experts, financial analysts, policy advocates and construction consultants. My ultimate deliverable is a comprehensive solution plan for designing, financing, permitting, and executing the construction of this sustainability infrastructure. I’m very fortunate to be in an impactful role as part of a company whose business model aims to protect our planet for generations to come.
To use one example, I'm working on developing a facility in the US that converts various organic waste streams into renewable natural gas and compost. A portion of my day could involve following up on design requirements with engineering consultants and going through aspects of feedstock planning and field sample analysis. I must also evaluate different equipment vendors for the project through administering rigorous requests for proposal processes. I must sometimes travel to different parts of the globe to visit technology reference sites as part of this evaluation. I also spend a lot of time working with lawyers because part of my job involves developing many legal agreements that cover construction contracts, consulting contracts, procurement contracts and asset transaction agreements. Another key part of my role is financial modelling, which requires me to work with financial analysts to develop project proformas. We work as a team to continuously refine assumptions on the project economics to ensure we are on the right track as the project development progresses. Additionally, since policies impact project development, I work closely with policy consultants who maintain relationships with provincial and federal government members or representatives. If a new policy is coming down the pipeline, I will receive notifications from our consultants to understand what works for us, what doesn't, and which policymakers we need to engage with to provide guidance or feedback.
On the technical side, this is where my chemical engineering background comes in, especially with process design. I look at feedstock studies to assess different organic waste streams, their organic content, and their potential energy yield. I then create mass and energy balance models, refining assumptions as I go. This information is then fed into financial models to make revenue projections that I alluded to earlier. A critical aspect of my job is effectively communicating my project development progress to the company’s senior leadership and its investors. I would make presentations on business development committee calls to provide updates on progress, material impacts, budget justifications, and financial projections. The ultimate deliverable is a presentation to the investment committee to obtain approval for capital deployment to build a project, to upgrade an existing asset or to acquire an asset.
You're right. My background is in chemical engineering, and over time, I've carved out a niche in biogas process engineering, which has become my technical expertise area as my career has progressed.
“Even though I'm a chemical engineer by training, in this role, I also have to rely on consultants who are experts in other areas such as civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering because all these disciplines come into play when designing a facility.”
When I took this role, one of my biggest learning curves was understanding new emerging policies that were opening new markets relevant to my industry. For example, many industries are now mandated to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions and reduce their carbon emissions intensity scores within a set timeframe. Such policies are good for our kind of business because they create demand for renewable energy services. With this mandate, companies need to seek alternatives to fossil fuels with a more circular energy source, like food waste. An effective way to learn about these policies is to join relevant industry associations, such as the Canadian Biogas Association. With this membership, I'm able to attend webinars and other info sessions hosted by these associations to get updates on policy and provide input on these changes. Another way to learn and to stay updated is by attending industry conferences. These events provide opportunities to meet vendors, stay informed about emerging technologies, and attend relevant seminars that you wouldn't otherwise hear about.
Additionally, if you think a certain skill set is needed for your role and you are a bit rusty or want to sharpen that skill set, there's no harm in approaching your manager for support. This was something that I had done in the past; I went to my manager and said, "Hey, I want to brush up my financial analysis skills, and I found an online course on financial analysis by Harvard Business School. I think this is relevant to the job, so are you okay if I sign up for the course to sharpen my skills?". A good manager will recognize that supporting the employee's learning ultimately benefits them and the business, and would therefore facilitate these kinds of personal development goals.
If you live in Toronto, you sort your organic waste into a green bin, which then likely goes to an anaerobic digestion facility or composting facility. This system is called source-separated organics collection because you, as the source, make an effort to separate your waste. However, the effectiveness of this system depends on how committed you are to properly separating waste from contamination, such as packaging, plastics, cans, etc. Anaerobic digestion microbes cannot break down these “inorganic” materials, which can build up in digesters and shrink their useful volume. Because of poor source separation, you don't get the effective digestion and conversion of organic waste into biogas.
One of the challenges lies in the ability to remove such non-digestible materials and produce a clean organic feedstock. Fortunately, there are technologies out there that can liberate and retain organic material while removing contaminants. With the right experience and understanding of the feedstock consistency, it is possible to string these technologies together into an effective pre-processing treatment, resulting in a cleaner feedstock, better digestion conversion and higher biogas yield.
Another major challenge is on the financial side. Financially viable food waste anaerobic digestion facilities must typically be large-scale operations (processing over 80,000 to 100,000 tons/year), and building such facilities is costly. Over the past decade, government programs have emerged to help improve the economics for private companies developing these facilities. For example, with the carbon credits program, companies with high carbon intensities are obligated to either invest in technologies that reduce their emissions or buy carbon credits from low-emission fuel production companies like Generate Upcycle. This system creates an extra revenue stream for renewable natural gas producers that are bought at a premium that is at least 10 times that of conventional natural gas. The Canadian government also supports renewable energy projects through the Clean Fuel Fund, which offsets a portion of the project’s capital cost. Such programs are some of the tools used to support the financial viability of these projects.
One of my biggest career drivers is the desire to continuously learn new things. In order to learn, you have to be willing to challenge yourself and step out of your comfort zone. I remember moments in my early career when I saw an interesting opportunity to take on a new role; I walked into my manager's office expressing enthusiasm to pursue it – but not having the full picture of what I was signing up for. That was pure naivety. If future Rhiad came back in time and talked to that Rhiad in that office and told him what he was actually in for, he might have hesitated, or gone on a different path.
" Even though I was naive, I was also bold and willing to take a shot. And because of that decision, I gained the knowledge and experience that contributed to the confidence and expertise I have today."
While the drive to learn is important, having supportive management is equally important. A good manager provides guidance and encouragement to support your success. But remember, this relationship is a two-way street—your managers are not doing you a favour; they also rely on team members who can meet the needs of the organization. When you succeed, your boss succeeds, and the whole team ultimately succeeds. When opportunities arise, it is crucial to give them your best effort so that the whole team succeeds and that you learn the most that you can.
Besides that, no matter what role you take, even if it's not the best fit at the time, it is still a vital stepping stone for your career. There is always something valuable to learn, no matter how big or small it is. One way to have a shot at new opportunities is to actively seek them out. I also have found that when you give your best effort with sincerity at performing your current role, great opportunities tend to find you.
Lastly, don't be afraid of failure because that is a part of the learning process. It is important to learn from mistakes, shake them off, and move forward. Sometimes, when I make mistakes, I would beat myself up about it as I’m my biggest critic. But then, I have to remember to reflect and understand where things went wrong so I do not repeat the same mistake again and become better.
This may sound trivial and obvious to some, but it’s often overlooked - I make a to-do list every day. I actually do the upcoming day’s to-do list at the end of the previous day, so I have my daily targets when the next day starts. A lot of the time, we tend to go through the motions and don't do the small planning step. But I think it's good to be disciplined and take time to do that small thing to organize your day better for better productivity. In addition, try to be disciplined with keeping a routine of eating healthy, going outside, and exercising regularly. I know that things change, and it can be difficult to always keep the routine, so it's also important to be flexible so you can move things around the day as needed to meet all your targets. I should also mention that getting enough sleep is also crucial to your job function and, most importantly, for your health. It’s essential to get enough rest to feel rested.
People often talk about work-life balance, but I prefer to think of it as a work-life blend. The advent of remote-hybrid work, more so, helps with achieving a better work-life blend as it facilitates better schedule flexibility in many ways. What must matter at the end of the day is not how long you sit at your desk, but whether you’re hitting your targets and achieving your commitments. Personally, I prefer to start the day earlier so I don’t load up my late evenings that are meant for other commitments like shuffling my kids to Taekwondo or losing to them playing Mario Kart – occasionally.
"At the end of the day, and I say this in a particular order: make sure you rest well, eat well, exercise, and you will be able to work well. Because when you take good care of yourself and live a healthy lifestyle, good work will naturally follow."
Yeah, that's a good one. I was looking at the periodic table and thought about it for a while, and I think my favourite element is carbon. It forms some of the strongest materials known to mankind, and without carbon, art would not exist. Because where would we be without graphite to draw or sketch. Carbon is the backbone of life and the basis of organic chemistry, which was also one of my favourite subjects in university.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Can you tell me a bit about Generate Upcycle and your role as their Director of Development?
With so many changes as the project progresses and such a wide range of responsibilities, what does a typical day look like for you?
With so many responsibilities as a Director, how do you maintain a healthy work-life balance?
As a tradition for our #HumansInChemTO guests, what is your favourite element and why?