New body 'liquefaction' unit unveiled in Florida funeral home

Gerald · 08-30-11, 08:46 AM

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 makers claim the process produces a third less greenhouse gas than cremation, uses a seventh of the energy, and allows for the complete separation of dental amalgam for safe disposal.

Mercury from amalgam vaporised in crematoria is blamed for up to 16% of UK airborne mercury emissions, and many UK crematoria are currently fitting mercury filtration systems to meet reduced emission targets.

"Resomation was developed in response to the public's increasing environmental concerns," company founder Sandy Sullivan told BBC News. "It gives them that working third choice, which allows them to express those concerns in a very positive and I think personal way."

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

Note: 30 August 2011 Last updated at 10:52 GMT

Growler · 08-30-11, 10:54 AM

Soylent green can't be too far away now.

08-30-11, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Soylent green can't be too far away now.

heh, I had to laugh, my thought exactly

Osmium Steele · 08-30-11, 12:20 PM

"Is that a milkshake?"

"No, it's me mum."

August · 08-30-11, 01:19 PM

To heck with cremation or liquification. Bury my intact body in a real grave with a marble headstone that has my name engraved on it.

Sailor Steve · 08-30-11, 01:23 PM

frau kaleun · 08-30-11, 01:27 PM

kraznyi_oktjabr · 08-30-11, 01:30 PM

If when my time comes there is no free lot available in cemetery, then conduct burial at sea please. Thanks!

August · 08-30-11, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Used for what?

antikristuseke · 08-30-11, 01:42 PM

A pub

Sailor Steve · 08-30-11, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by August

Used for what?

I don't know...housing, parks, a lot of other things not on my mind right now. I was only half serious, as I don't claim the right to dictate how others spend their lives, or afterlives. For myself, I consider a rotting corpse a waste of space that living people could be using.

August · 08-30-11, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antikristuseke

A pub

They must have awful small pubs in Estonia that can fit in a 4x8 foot plot.

antikristuseke · 08-30-11, 01:55 PM

Our graveyards contain more than one plot.

Schroeder · 08-30-11, 02:32 PM

Well, it will be cremation for me. We have a family tree in a forest cemetery (don't know the real English word for it. It's a forest in which the ashes of people are buried between the roots of trees in dissolving urns....so it's back to the roots for me.

)

Osmium Steele · 08-30-11, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

For myself, I consider a rotting corpse a waste of space that living people could be using.

I know a few human-shaped animated meat sacks I would place in the same category.

08-30-11, 08:46 AM	#1
Gerald SUBSIM Newsman Join Date: May 2008 Location: Close to sea Posts: 24,254 Downloads: 553 Uploads: 0	New body 'liquefaction' unit unveiled in Florida funeral home 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 makers claim the process produces a third less greenhouse gas than cremation, uses a seventh of the energy, and allows for the complete separation of dental amalgam for safe disposal. Mercury from amalgam vaporised in crematoria is blamed for up to 16% of UK airborne mercury emissions, and many UK crematoria are currently fitting mercury filtration systems to meet reduced emission targets. "Resomation was developed in response to the public's increasing environmental concerns," company founder Sandy Sullivan told BBC News. "It gives them that working third choice, which allows them to express those concerns in a very positive and I think personal way." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14114555 Note: 30 August 2011 Last updated at 10:52 GMT __________________ Nothing in life is to be feard,it is only to be understood. Marie Curie

08-30-11, 10:54 AM	#2
Growler A long way from the sea Join Date: May 2005 Location: Iowa Posts: 1,913 Downloads: 21 Uploads: 0	Soylent green can't be too far away now. __________________ At Fiddler’s Green, where seamen true When here they’ve done their duty The bowl of grog shall still renew And pledge to love and beauty.

08-30-11, 12:20 PM	#4
Osmium Steele Ace of the Deep Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Upper midwest USA Posts: 1,101 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	"Is that a milkshake?" "No, it's me mum." __________________ In the month of July of the year 1348, between the feasts of St. Benedict and of St. Swithin, a strange thing came upon England... My U297 build thread

08-30-11, 01:19 PM	#5
August Wayfaring Stranger Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 23,199 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	To heck with cremation or liquification. Bury my intact body in a real grave with a marble headstone that has my name engraved on it. __________________ Flanked by life and the funeral pyre. Putting on a show for you to see.

08-30-11, 01:23 PM	#6
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	__________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

08-30-11, 01:27 PM	#7
frau kaleun Rear Admiral Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Skyri--oh who are we kidding, I'm probably at Lowe's. Again. Posts: 12,706 Downloads: 168 Uploads: 0

08-30-11, 01:30 PM	#8
kraznyi_oktjabr Sea Lord Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Republiken Finland Posts: 1,803 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	If when my time comes there is no free lot available in cemetery, then conduct burial at sea please. Thanks! __________________ You talk to God, you're religious. God talks to you, you're psychotic. - Dr. House

08-30-11, 01:42 PM	#10
antikristuseke Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Estland Posts: 4,330 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	A pub

08-30-11, 01:55 PM	#13
antikristuseke Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Estland Posts: 4,330 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Our graveyards contain more than one plot.

08-30-11, 02:32 PM	#14
Schroeder Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Banana Republic of Germany Posts: 6,170 Downloads: 62 Uploads: 0	Well, it will be cremation for me. We have a family tree in a forest cemetery (don't know the real English word for it. It's a forest in which the ashes of people are buried between the roots of trees in dissolving urns....so it's back to the roots for me.) __________________ Putting Germ back into Germany.