Metawave pioneers microwave-based heating for industry

In this episode, Jonathan Spencer Jones is joined by Paolo Veronesi, professor of metallurgy at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia to break down the Metawave project. A significant challenge in the drive for net zero is the decarbonisation of energy intensive industries such as ceramics, glass or concrete. The further challenge is that the diversity of industries with their individual characteristics and processes require individual solutions. One of these is high temperature heating and microwave – well established as a medium for cooking – seems to offer potential in industry as a replacement for fossil-fuel based heating. “We decided to use microwaves because of their volumetric, selective and rapid nature of heating. And they are also useful to process multi-phase materials or materials having a low thermal conductivity,” Paolo explains.