Wavon: A ceramics innovation in the making

The Scott Institute for Energy Innovation is Carnegie Mellon University’s hub for advancing collaborative efforts focused on the future of energy—including through entrepreneurship, which provides a unique opportunity to support early-stage startups looking to grow from ideas to proofs-of-concept to commercialization.

Bashu Aman, a mechanical engineering PhD student at CMU, is the innovator behind Wavon Ceramics, a months-old company that for now exists exclusively on paper. Like many aspiring student entrepreneurs, Aman discovered that his technical prowess had potential for a wider reach to drive sustainability. The nascent company aims to decarbonize the ceramic manufacturing industry with the help of microwaves. 

“The current industry relies on high-temperature furnaces—greater than 1000 degrees Celsius—which is cost-intensive and energy-hungry,” said Aman. “All of that energy is taken from the grid.” 

Aman explained that using microwaves allows for faster energy generation to create a less carbon- and power-intensive heating process, but there are still wrinkles to iron out. One concern is how to correct the uneven heating of ceramics, a problem remarkably similar to reheating food in a microwave and finding that only certain spots were warmed up. Should this happen in commercial manufacturing facilities, it could cause delays and financial losses. Aman is investigating the solution as part of his PhD research on use of microwaves for ceramic high-temperature treatment in his advisor, Reeja Jayan’s lab. 

With support from the Scott Institute’s entrepreneurship award, Aman visited Boston this past summer to kick off the Cleantech Open Northeast (CTONE) accelerator program. For ten weeks, Aman’s cohort was guided through modules on the many kinds of support available to emerging cleantech companies looking to find their footing in the market, ranging from technical advisors to financial options. 

“One thing I learned was the importance of talking to more people. During research, we’re generally used to working alone in labs,” said Aman. “I learned from the accelerator experience that if I don’t talk to more people, I’m living in an assumption-heavy world—and whatever assumptions I had about Wavon, I had to validate them by talking to real customers.” 

CTONE helped Aman establish a plan to grow his company over the next few years through further research and development. He is currently working on a funding proposal for validating Wavon’s techno-economic and scale-up assumptions. Concentrating on one of the many growth pathways has allowed Aman to decode microwaves’ benefits in the customized ceramic product market for on-demand manufacturing.

The CTONE program, which began in June, concluded in September with a pitching event in New York City. Aman prepared a 10-minute presentation geared towards an audience of potential investors, industry experts, and competition judges that dove into Wavon’s plan for research and development as the framework for future growth. Wavon Ceramics was named a semifinalist. 

“I love research, but I also want my work to go beyond papers and into the real world,” said Aman. Entrepreneurship allows him to translate his microwave-based ceramic manufacturing expertise into dramatically faster, cheaper, and cleaner products, hardware solutions, and next-generation technologies that solve real problems for customers while also tackling emissions at scale. “Building Wavon is my way of turning technical innovation into impactful climate solutions.”