Coming Through the Lye
by Natalie Pompilio
FEBRUARY 16, 2010 TAGS:
The phrase “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” from The Book of Common Prayer refers to our bodies after death. But it doesn’t specify how we get that way.
For the fire phobic, there is now alkaline hydrolysis, which returns the body to its ashy state via a mixture of water, heat, pressure and potassium hydroxide, a compound often used to make liquid soaps. The process --- now being marketed here and overseas under names like “bio-cremation,” “resomation” and “water resolution” – is already used by medical and veterinary schools.
It works like this: The corpse is placed in a stainless steel pressurized tube that is then filled with the key ingredients and heated to 330 degrees. After a few hours, all that remains is the skeleton – so soft that it can be ground into ash by hand – and a greenish-brown liquid composed of amino acids, sugars and salts.
The process’s biggest draw, supporters say, is the environmental impact: The stainless steel cylinder that processes the body uses less energy to operate and produces far fewer pollutants than cremation by incineration. There’s no worry that embalming fluid will further harm the earth. Neither will harmful mercury fillings, which can easily be plucked from teeth and disposed of in an environmentally safe way.
The process also encourages recycling: Any foreign substance in the body, like pacemakers, replacement joints and pins, will remain intact and could possibly be used again (although that’s an entirely different discussion). And if you’re really dedicated, you can take home those liquid remains and use Grandma to fertilize your garden.
“This is trailblazing,” said Steven Schaal, the division manager of sales and marketing for Pittsburgh-based Matthews International, one of the companies selling the machines. “We’re getting a lot of inquiries from places like California, Oregon, Washington. They have an audience that is already environmentally aware. They already go to Whole Foods. They already drive hybrid cars.”
Schaal’s company calls the process “bio-cremation” although the machines it sells are built by a Scottish company that calls itself and the process “Resomation.” That’s a play on the Greek “resoma,” or rebirth of the body. But the word also has a negative connotation, Schaal said, referring to the practice of disinterring a body, then reburying it elsewhere. The new name is more explanatory, he said, and “resonates better with customers.”
Schaal said his company will install the first bio-cremation machine in a St. Petersburg, Fl., funeral home early this year. Although Matthews officially partnered with Resomation Ltd. in 2008, it’s not as easy as selling a machine and setting up shop. Every state has laws regulating the disposal of human bodies, and the new process must still be included by legislation.
That’s not as easy as it sounds. Currently, only Minnesota, Florida and Maine allow the process. Other states have either considered it and tabled it for later evaluation or are still debating.
Why the hesitation? The potassium hydroxide is what usually stops people short.
That’s because the benign name hides the fact that it’s a form of lye, bringing to some people’s minds visions of bodies in barrels in a serial killer’s basement.
Indeed, when the New York state senate weighed a bill that would make alkaline hydrolysis available to the public, some called it “Hannibal Lecter’s bill.” Was that a play on sponsor Kemp Hannon’s name, as some attested, or an attempt to associate the entire practice with a psychopath?
When Minnesota was the first state to debate the practice, “the concerns were that the whole body was going down the drain,” said the Mayo Clinic’s Director of Anatomical Services Terry Regnier. He and other proponents were able to persuade legislators that wasn’t true.
Since 2002, Mayo has used alkaline hydrolysis to dispose of about 500 bodies that had been donated for medical research. Next of kin are given the option of choosing other means of disposal, he said, and only one family has asked for a more traditional cremation, by fire.
“Our bodies are largely water anyway, and it’s kind of a natural process to turn us back into what we’re made of,” Regnier said. “The public is looking for a greener way to handle their final dispositions.”
After the process, Mayo returns the remains to family members. While traditional cremation ash is coarse and can look burnt, the ashes returned after alkaline hydrolysis are very fine and “stark white,” Regnier said.
“Ours looks like flour. If you think of it as your mom or someone you care about, it’s very angelic.”
Regnier said he personally would prefer alkaline hydrolysis to fire cremation.
“I wouldn’t hesitate for a second,” he said. “I’d have any member of my family do it, too.”
Cost of the machines may deter some funeral operations from adding the service. The machines required for alkaline hydrolysis can cost easily twice as much as traditional cremators, said Brad Crain, president of BioSAFE Engineering, the Indiana company that made Mayo’s machine. The savings come in the long run, Crain said, and the process is still less expensive than a traditional earth burial.
“A lot of people don’t want to burden their families with an $8,000, $10,000, $12,000 bill when they leave this world. With our process, they’re talking about paying $1,000, $3,000,” said Crain, whose company calls the process as “water resolution.”
BioSAFE Engineering currently has 85 units in use, primarily for the disposal of animals, at research facilities, universities, and pharmaceutical companies. But Crain believes that within five years hundreds of machines will be in use commercially. A Tennessee funeral home is eager to add the machine, he said. The machines are great for urban areas, as there is no smokestack that might need zoning permission or inspire other worries about air pollution regulations.
“With our process, the next-door neighbor isn’t even going to know anything is happening,” Crain said.
Unless they start asking questions about your fabulous garden.
Natalie Pompilio, a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, contributes regularly to Obit.
For the fire phobic, there is now alkaline hydrolysis, which returns the body to its ashy state via a mixture of water, heat, pressure and potassium hydroxide, a compound often used to make liquid soaps. The process --- now being marketed here and overseas under names like “bio-cremation,” “resomation” and “water resolution” – is already used by medical and veterinary schools.It works like this: The corpse is placed in a stainless steel pressurized tube that is then filled with the key ingredients and heated to 330 degrees. After a few hours, all that remains is the skeleton – so soft that it can be ground into ash by hand – and a greenish-brown liquid composed of amino acids, sugars and salts.
The process’s biggest draw, supporters say, is the environmental impact: The stainless steel cylinder that processes the body uses less energy to operate and produces far fewer pollutants than cremation by incineration. There’s no worry that embalming fluid will further harm the earth. Neither will harmful mercury fillings, which can easily be plucked from teeth and disposed of in an environmentally safe way.
The process also encourages recycling: Any foreign substance in the body, like pacemakers, replacement joints and pins, will remain intact and could possibly be used again (although that’s an entirely different discussion). And if you’re really dedicated, you can take home those liquid remains and use Grandma to fertilize your garden.
“This is trailblazing,” said Steven Schaal, the division manager of sales and marketing for Pittsburgh-based Matthews International, one of the companies selling the machines. “We’re getting a lot of inquiries from places like California, Oregon, Washington. They have an audience that is already environmentally aware. They already go to Whole Foods. They already drive hybrid cars.”
Schaal’s company calls the process “bio-cremation” although the machines it sells are built by a Scottish company that calls itself and the process “Resomation.” That’s a play on the Greek “resoma,” or rebirth of the body. But the word also has a negative connotation, Schaal said, referring to the practice of disinterring a body, then reburying it elsewhere. The new name is more explanatory, he said, and “resonates better with customers.”
Schaal said his company will install the first bio-cremation machine in a St. Petersburg, Fl., funeral home early this year. Although Matthews officially partnered with Resomation Ltd. in 2008, it’s not as easy as selling a machine and setting up shop. Every state has laws regulating the disposal of human bodies, and the new process must still be included by legislation.
That’s not as easy as it sounds. Currently, only Minnesota, Florida and Maine allow the process. Other states have either considered it and tabled it for later evaluation or are still debating.Why the hesitation? The potassium hydroxide is what usually stops people short.
That’s because the benign name hides the fact that it’s a form of lye, bringing to some people’s minds visions of bodies in barrels in a serial killer’s basement.
Indeed, when the New York state senate weighed a bill that would make alkaline hydrolysis available to the public, some called it “Hannibal Lecter’s bill.” Was that a play on sponsor Kemp Hannon’s name, as some attested, or an attempt to associate the entire practice with a psychopath?
When Minnesota was the first state to debate the practice, “the concerns were that the whole body was going down the drain,” said the Mayo Clinic’s Director of Anatomical Services Terry Regnier. He and other proponents were able to persuade legislators that wasn’t true.
Since 2002, Mayo has used alkaline hydrolysis to dispose of about 500 bodies that had been donated for medical research. Next of kin are given the option of choosing other means of disposal, he said, and only one family has asked for a more traditional cremation, by fire.
“Our bodies are largely water anyway, and it’s kind of a natural process to turn us back into what we’re made of,” Regnier said. “The public is looking for a greener way to handle their final dispositions.”
After the process, Mayo returns the remains to family members. While traditional cremation ash is coarse and can look burnt, the ashes returned after alkaline hydrolysis are very fine and “stark white,” Regnier said.
“Ours looks like flour. If you think of it as your mom or someone you care about, it’s very angelic.”
Regnier said he personally would prefer alkaline hydrolysis to fire cremation.
“I wouldn’t hesitate for a second,” he said. “I’d have any member of my family do it, too.”
Cost of the machines may deter some funeral operations from adding the service. The machines required for alkaline hydrolysis can cost easily twice as much as traditional cremators, said Brad Crain, president of BioSAFE Engineering, the Indiana company that made Mayo’s machine. The savings come in the long run, Crain said, and the process is still less expensive than a traditional earth burial.
“A lot of people don’t want to burden their families with an $8,000, $10,000, $12,000 bill when they leave this world. With our process, they’re talking about paying $1,000, $3,000,” said Crain, whose company calls the process as “water resolution.”
BioSAFE Engineering currently has 85 units in use, primarily for the disposal of animals, at research facilities, universities, and pharmaceutical companies. But Crain believes that within five years hundreds of machines will be in use commercially. A Tennessee funeral home is eager to add the machine, he said. The machines are great for urban areas, as there is no smokestack that might need zoning permission or inspire other worries about air pollution regulations.
“With our process, the next-door neighbor isn’t even going to know anything is happening,” Crain said.
Unless they start asking questions about your fabulous garden.
Natalie Pompilio, a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, contributes regularly to Obit.
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COMMENTS (2)
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Deb Jackson wrote on May 22, 2010 8:42am
Great news blog! Please keep the information on resomation coming. [Report Comment]
Edward Gazvoda wrote on April 13, 2010 9:16pm
CycledLife offers a patent pending alkaline hydrolysis system for human remains. Out of 500 families offered a choice, 499 choose alkaline hydrolysis over burial or cremation. This new option will supersede cremation and burial. With 6.5 billion people alive on our planet, now is the time to make this technology available. [Report Comment]
