Liquefaction vs Cremation: Florida Tries New Disposal Method for Corpses

[Kitty]

Resomation founder Sandy Sullivan explains how the machine works

A Glasgow-based company has installed its first commercial "alkaline hydrolysis" unit at a Florida funeral home.

The unit by Resomation Ltd is billed as a green alternative to cremation and works by dissolving the body in heated alkaline water.

The facility has been installed at the Anderson-McQueen funeral home in St Petersburg, and will be used for the first time in the coming weeks. It is hoped other units will follow in the US, Canada and Europe.

The system works by submerging the body in a solution of water and potassium hydroxide which is pressurised to 10 atmospheres and heated to 180C for between two-and-a-half and three hours.

Body tissue is dissolved and the liquid poured into the municipal water system. Mr Sullivan, a biochemist by training, says tests have proven the effluent is sterile and contains no DNA, and poses no environmental risk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14114555


EWEWEWEWEW!

[62julietandvoid]

Human puree, anyone?

[biteme]

Florida, one need to say more?

[Robynne]

I wonder if they have been doing this for awhile but not publicizing it. If so, maybe it is the water in Flori duh!!!!!!

[Obsolete]

I wonder if they have been doing this for awhile but not publicizing it. If so, maybe it is the water in Flori duh!!!!!!

They said it will be getting used for the first time in upcoming weeks. Unless they're lying.

[Robynne]

They said it will be getting used for the first time in upcoming weeks. Unless they're lying.

That's what I'm saying. They might have been working on it for years with bodies donated to science, and they dumped the liquid made from the bodies in the water....
Just a theory....
But I have a few theories as to why people in Flori duh are ending up on here so often.

[Tundratot]

This is not likely to be a popular method of disposal with loving families. Even if it all ends up in the same place, most families would flinch at sending grandma's remains into the sewer system. It just doesn't say "love". Now, if the deceased were a shitbug in the first place, it would seem fitting to the family.

The unknown, homeless, unclaimed, and dead prisoners, now . . . Well, in the first three cases it seems pretty heartless, but maybe no worse than an unmarked grave.

[gee]

Bye Ma... as you pour mom into the toilet. Nothing says, I love you like pouring your loved one down the toilet. LMAO

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Ohio is the only state where the method, called alkaline hydrolysis, has been used in the funeral industry, but others are allowing for it, spurred by a push from interested crematories and equipment manufacturers or by a desire to have regulations ready if the process comes to their regions.

Proponents say it has lower operating costs and is greener than traditional cremation because it does not cause the emissions that incineration does, such as carbon dioxide and mercury from dental fillings.

Skeptics question whether sending someone's remains down a drain is safe for the environment and public health.

Changes taking effect this year will allow alkaline hydrolysis in Kansas, Maryland and Colorado, where the governor signed a bill into law April 6. It already was legal in Florida, Maine, Minnesota and Oregon. New York and California also are considering allowing it.

The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the University of Florida use it for human cadavers, and it has been used for two decades on animal carcasses.

Also known as resomation, the method uses lye — a type of corrosive chemical used to make soaps and cleaners — in combination with heat and sometimes extra pressure in a large metal cylinder.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/nation-worl...ses-ar-234647/

I don't have a problem with it if that's what someone wants.

[Pete Bondurant]

[Dakota Valkyrie]

This is not likely to be a popular method of disposal with loving families.

How about if it's worded such that you can take Grandma's liquified remains and water her favorite rose bush with it? Just because it's different does not make it "non-loving".

I find the idea of being put in a dirt hole as I slowly rot and putrefy disgusting. Getting shoved into a cement house (mausoleum) sounds even worse. Getting sent into a hell hole to become ashes doesn't trip my trigger either. Getting turned into a liquid and sent down the drain isn't any different than those. But I don't have a better idea so I'll let the family pick whatever they want.

[Pete Bondurant]

[Valasca]

Meh. If it's cheaper, I'll go this way, I don't care.

[Tundratot]

How about if it's worded such that you can take Grandma's liquified remains and water her favorite rose bush with it? Just because it's different does not make it "non-loving".

I was reacting more to the suggestion that the remains would be placed into the "water system". I don't believe for a second that they mean into the potable water. I think they mean into the drain water system (the sewer). If they planned to give the families the liquid remains to distribute as they see fit, whether in a rose bush or a favorite lake, that's just like spreading ashes. No problem there.

Should it make any difference? Maybe not. With these things, it's all about perception and people believe that the current thing is the right thing. We don't let most bodies rot back into the dirt anymore, nor do we allow animals to feed off them. These would be far greener options than our current practice of embalming, followed by burial in an aluminum casket with a concrete vault like so much nuclear waste.

[kavelyn]

Since boiling temperature is 100 degrees Celsius, and they are heating human remains to 180 degrees C under pressure -- they're pressure-cooling it, right? Does that mean that the skeleton gets liquified too?

[Gidget]

Pressure cooking? Oh my God, is there a smell when this process is happening? Before you ask, yes, I am quite aware that burning a body produces odor as well. I am just picturing boiled human flesh. Ew.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

We don't let most bodies rot back into the dirt anymore, nor do we allow animals to feed off them. These would be far greener options than our current practice of embalming, followed by burial in an aluminum casket with a concrete vault like so much nuclear waste.

I won't be embalmed. Period. It's not mandatory so why do it? It's little more than "People Pickles".

Big fat waste of money since there will be no viewing of my dead body. They can chuck my carcass in a hole, incinerate me, or toss me down the drain for all the need ANYONE will have for my remains. If they want to plant me, they can do it ASAP in a pine box. Although I prefer they take the cheapest route and spend the savings on a party to celebrate my life.

[Kitty]

Since boiling temperature is 100 degrees Celsius, and they are heating human remains to 180 degrees C under pressure -- they're pressure-cooling it, right? Does that mean that the skeleton gets liquified too?

@kavelyn

According to the article the bones are still intact and cremated after all the soft bits are boiled off.

[Tits McGee]

I will be stuffed and sat in the corner, where my shrine will be for all to worship.

[krissytan]

LOL.. will they send the remains home with you in a pitcher? Or maybe an urn-type deal? God help anyone who has rowdy kids and spills granny all over the carpet.

I should get my family to do this to me when I die.. then make kool-aid outta me. :)