I guess with the world’s population breaking the 7 billion mark, land has gotten a whole lot more scarce. Take city-state Singapore for instance – that tiny dot on the world map has “evicted” many of those laid to eternal rest to “apartments”, in order to make way for the living. Practical, definitely, but what if there was an even more efficient manner to store the dead and honor their memory? A Glasgow-based company might have stumbled upon the next big thing for funeral homes, having just installed its first commercial “alkaline hydrolysis” unit known as the Resomator at Florida.
Resomation Ltd.’s unit has been touted to be a green alternative to cremation, where it will dissolve the whole body in heated alkaline water. Hmmm, does this mean that future serial killers would also attempt to purchase one of these to get rid of the evidence? Those interested to “try” out the machine once they’ve passed on can head towards the Anderson-McQueen funeral home in St Petersburg, where other units are expected to see action in the US, Canada and Europe shortly after.
According to the manufacturers, the process will produce 33% less greenhouse gas compared to cremation, taking up just a seventh of the energy, while paving the way for complete separation of dental amalgam for safe disposal. Currently, mercury from amalgam that were vaporized in crematoria have been cited to be the source of up to 16% of UK airborne mercury emissions, and most of the UK crematoria do have mercury filtration systems in place to meet reduced emission targets.
The Resomator is said to be able to dissolve body tissue in less than three hours, where the entire body of the deceased will be submerged 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.
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