I am one of the early pioneers in water cremation and a co-inventor of an alkaline hydrolysis system that works. From 2009 to 2011, my former company, Cycled Life, had rights to the Bio-Response Solutions’ (“B.S.”) pet system. I learned about alkaline hydrolysis the hard way: losing lots of money after discovering B.S.’ technology does not work.
Laboratories, veterinarians, or funeral homes can use the FC-600 system. The process is similar for all three.
Alkaline hydrolysis systems typically require over 300 gallons of water per cycle. The FC-600 automatically adds water equal to 60% of the decedent’s weight, including water in the 45% potassium hydroxide. The rinse cycles use @18 gallons of water. For a decedent weighing 150 pounds, our system would use less than 10% of the total required by most other systems.
One can now offer families four new final disposition options since the non-bone remains weigh about 2x the decedent’s weight, compared to other systems that yield over 300 gallons of effluent per cycle. About half the families that my funeral home served opted to receive 100% of the “body” back. This enabled the body to be buried without a coffin or cemetery plot and sold as an Aqua Burial.
Ethanol (denatured alcohol) breaks down the long fatty chains. Water and alkaline do not. After a B.S. cycle, the top of their effluent forms a thick fatty layer. Unbroken fats are not beneficial to farmers. A fatty layer does not rise to the surface of our essence.
Below is a description from start to finish of an FC-600 cycle.
1. The decedent is lowered directly into the main vessel via a mortuary lift (no scissor lift required as is recommended with a B.S. or Resomation® system). We do not use a basket to hold the body. The body rests on the bottom of the system. After loading the body, the operator can safely remove clothing, open a viscera bag, and remove a body bag or sheet. Once the body is inside the vessel, there is no longer a risk of contamination or fall risks owing to fluids dripping onto surfaces. There is no minimum weight load requirement. However, if the body weighs less than 115 pounds, the system will add fluids as if the weight were 115 lbs. The FC-600’s maximum capacity is a 500-pound decedent.
2. When working with a medical or donor facility, you could process multiple remains simultaneously. You would place the remains in polypropylene bags, similar to how the FC-600 performs communal, separated, private dog and cat water cremations. This is a link to a video of pets receiving private, communal separated water cremations: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NmxLwuiUxRfecapi8. You would handle body parts in the same manner. Notice in this video, https://photos.app.goo.gl/KAsRSMNakkZQPopYA, the hollow bones — there is no marrow remaining, as there is with other systems.
3. The operator closes the latches on the vessel, then goes to the control panel and starts the process. Unlike the B.S. system, no tipping is required. Operators can go about their day since the system autocompletes the dissolution.
4. The time required to add chemicals is based on the deceased’s weight: 5-20 minutes to add the 45% potassium hydroxide, water, and ethanol.
5. The time required to reach the operating temperature, 160F, varies based on the deceased’s weight, body temperature, chemicals, and water; typically, it takes 30 minutes.
6. The dissolution cycle runs for a minimum of 2.5 hours for bodies weighing less than 150 pounds. For bodies weighing over 150 pounds, each additional pound adds one minute to a maximum dissolution cycle of 240 minutes.
7. After the dissolution cycle, a pump transfers the essence into the neutralization station. This step takes 5-15 minutes.
8. Rinsing the bones and the system takes about 20 minutes and uses 18 gallons of water. Our system uses 90% less water than other alkaline hydrolysis systems.
9. Removing the bones and medical implants takes about 5 minutes. A dustpan and brush easily remove the bones from the bottom of the system. As you experienced, the B.S. systems are infamous for having brains remaining within the skull, tissue on the vertebrate, sinews clinging to baskets, marrow, and long-chain fats. This is a video of bones being removed from the FC-500, not the new FC-600: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tX8EE32aLuVzBYoQ6. The FC-600 does not have a screen. You can see how easy it is to remove all the bones and prevent cross-contamination.
10. The system is available to start a new cycle. The total dissolution time for bodies under 150 pounds is about 3-3.5 hours and about 5.5 hours for decedents weighing 500 pounds.
11. Optional neutralization process: The neutralization of the essence takes place in the neutralization station. Glacial acetic acid is slowly metered into a tube of circulating essence (similar to a drip IV). This process reduces the release of vapors. The bubbles disappear before the fluid goes back to the neutralization tank. Adjusting the pH level of the essence to meet local water treatment facilities’ pH limits or for land application is easy to achieve. We would never use carbon dioxide or citric acid to lower the pH. Some acids mixed with the base liquid form hazardous vapors. Acetic acid turns the essence into a natural organic soil amendment. This enables families to choose an Aqua Compost or an Aqua Burial.
12. A hose with a nozzle provides a final manual rinse if desired.
13. The bones go into a dehydrator for 5-12 hours. If using a convection oven, the time will vary based on the heat setting and airflow. Depending on the ambient conditions of the facility, bones can be air-dried. The time required to air-dry bones could take 18-48+ hours.
14. Dried bones are ready to be processed and placed in an urn. This process takes 5-15 minutes, depending on the processor’s speed and power.
15. The neutralized essence is emptied into the sewer or a holding tank. The time required to empty the neutralization vessel is 5 to 15 minutes. For an Aqua Burial, Aqua Burial at Sea, or Aqua Compost, the operator would fill five-gallon plastic containers with the person’s essence. This step takes 10-15 minutes.
16. If desired, manually rinsing the neutralization station takes a few minutes.
Ethanol breaks down the triglyceride esters. Systems using only water and alkali form a fatty layer on the surface of cooled effluent, plus a fatty film on the system’s interior and baskets. Ethanol is key to our patented process. It significantly reduces the cycle time by breaking down the fats so the alkali can break down the proteins.
Our heaters are external to the main vessel. The B.S. Aquamation® systems use internal heaters, which eventually fail because of exposure to the alkali.
Low-temp systems are much safer; however, using just water and alkali does not work. In 2011, I closed my company, which had licensed technology from B.S., after discovering that four out of nine bodies still had brains in their skulls after 18-20 hours in the Aquamation® system. I could not believe B.S. was still selling systems. In 2019, I assembled and invested in a team of biochemists and former rocket engineers to see if we could solve all the problems with
Aquamation®. We did! The FC-600 is our fourth-generation alkaline hydrolysis system.
Our essence is sterile, which would not likely be the case with effluent if the bones still contained marrow or brains remained in the skull. Our system destroys all pathogens.
No one who has taken our alkaline hydrolysis $1,500 Challenge Scorecard Challenge has ever bought another system from B.S. or Resomation®. Visit our website for more details on the $1,500 Challenge.
Maintenance requirements are expected to be minimal. The main stainless-steel vessels should last “forever.” Pumps, heaters, and actuators should last many years. The pH meter must be replaced every year or so and calibrated periodically.
Customers would need a barrel dolly to move the chemical drums, possibly an explosion-proof fan and ductwork (@$3,000 for equipment and installation), personal protective equipment (@$200), miscellaneous items (hose, dust pan, cookie sheets (@$200), and electrical power to the system. No costly 3-phase power as the B.S. system requires (cost site-specific).
In the spirit of Clarence Darrow, there is one obituary for which I am waiting -- and once news breaks that this rapist/felon has dropped dead, I will dance in the streets. I already have a busy intersection picked out.
So many things to think about, as our civilization sinks slowly in the east. First, why isn't popping the dearly departed into a hole in the ground somewhere in the forest the "most eco-friendly form of burial"? Second, what happens to the "strong alkali" after it helps turn you to slurry? Is it reusable? And third (three's enough), what's the deal with a jug full of bone powder? Why does that represent John Brown's body? Is it the dryness that makes it more pleasant to contemplate?
In the case that these are not rhetorical questions, ha! To quote Mark Twain, “ I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”
1. A bit out of left field, it’s actually the ability to recycle the precious-metal medical implants that remain after cremation and Aquamation that serve as a significant environmental credit. They are collected and the metals are melted down and reused. Mining these metals is very energy and environmentally intensive, and with burial they are forever removed from the usage loop. Otherwise - yes, without implants what is widely known as a “green burial” would likely have the lowest env impact, but there is still the factor of perpetual land use due to state laws. Is a perpetually designated grassland a bad thing? I wouldn’t think so. In some countries land availability is an issue, but not here in the US where we can spare some land for a beautiful green burial / nature conservation area. Anyway… no option is perfect, or maybe they all are. We don’t have to choose the “greenest” option after death, though it’s an important consideration to many. Everyone gets to make their own choice which I think is important.
2. The process uses 95% water and 5% alkali. The water performs the breakdown, but the high pH helps the water molecules dissociate into H+ and OH- ions, making it better at breaking bonds. The alkali is consumed by the end of the process. What’s left is 96% water and 4% small peptides, amino acids, sugars, nutrients, salt…as small as everything can be broken down. Not that this changes anything, but it’s not a sludge. It’s the same viscosity of water. And one way or another that final process water is recycled back to the environment. All pathogens, drugs in the body, even chemotherapy or embalming agents.- are destroyed by alkaline hydrolysis (the scientific name for the process).
3. Well, I guess you could put the final remains in a jug, or even a coffee can like in The Big Lebowski. Most families choose an urn, LOL! The final remains are similar to cremated remains. Which might not be helpful information… because sometimes what people expect when receiving cremated remains are ashes similar to what’s found in a fireplace after a fire. But that’s not the case. Just like with any other option with our bodies (including burial and cremation), the inorganic minerals are the only thing that remain. Every science textbook defines “ash” as the inorganic minerals that remain when all organic material has been decomposed. The result of all of these methods are Ash - calcium phosphate. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, as they say.
Why does that represent a person’s body? They are the final physical remnants of a person’s earthly existence - which is both scientific and symbolic. I like to think that these minerals have been along that person’s entire life journey. Or of course in the case of a pet, the same idea. In many cultures, the final resting place of these remains is very significant. We see people inter bodies and urns in holy ground. We see people, scattering ashes and meaningful places, or wearing a piece of jewelry that holds some of these minerals.
I enjoyed thinking about all of this today. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I worked on an alkaline hydrolysis brand (that is no longer with us) a few years ago, and we named it Pisces. RIP! I looooved working and thinking in that industry, and I recall we did try to rename the 'aquamation' process but the client ended up keeping that term as it was becoming recognized industry language.
I was introduced to another alternative to cremation (and traditional burial) by Mary Roach in her book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. (All her books are great.)
It’s called promession. It “takes a body, freezes it, vibrates it to dust, and dehydrates it, to create what the inventor claims is the most eco-friendly form of burial ever devised.”
Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt in 2015 without a promession facility having been built or put into service. Critics argue that there is a physical impossibility to atomize a freeze-dried human body in this way.
Too bad. It would be my first choice. The methods available are tightly controlled by the funeral industry; even “natural burial” is often illegal.
www.americancrematory.com sells an FC-600 alkaline hydrolysis system based on Fireless Cremation's patented system. It is less costly, faster, and works. Pricing is @ $220k all-in.
And I thought, based on the word 'claymation', that 'aquamation' was going to be about a new form of animation using water.
I had the same reaction. It’s got the same rhythm as “animation,” too.
Samesies.
I am one of the early pioneers in water cremation and a co-inventor of an alkaline hydrolysis system that works. From 2009 to 2011, my former company, Cycled Life, had rights to the Bio-Response Solutions’ (“B.S.”) pet system. I learned about alkaline hydrolysis the hard way: losing lots of money after discovering B.S.’ technology does not work.
There is a video on our website with an interview of Jeff Edward, a former owner of a B.S. system, in which he shares some problems with the B.S.’ Aquamation® systems: https://firelesscremation.com/human-pet-alkaline-hydrolysis-systems.
Here is some information on our patented system:
Laboratories, veterinarians, or funeral homes can use the FC-600 system. The process is similar for all three.
Alkaline hydrolysis systems typically require over 300 gallons of water per cycle. The FC-600 automatically adds water equal to 60% of the decedent’s weight, including water in the 45% potassium hydroxide. The rinse cycles use @18 gallons of water. For a decedent weighing 150 pounds, our system would use less than 10% of the total required by most other systems.
One can now offer families four new final disposition options since the non-bone remains weigh about 2x the decedent’s weight, compared to other systems that yield over 300 gallons of effluent per cycle. About half the families that my funeral home served opted to receive 100% of the “body” back. This enabled the body to be buried without a coffin or cemetery plot and sold as an Aqua Burial.
Ethanol (denatured alcohol) breaks down the long fatty chains. Water and alkaline do not. After a B.S. cycle, the top of their effluent forms a thick fatty layer. Unbroken fats are not beneficial to farmers. A fatty layer does not rise to the surface of our essence.
Below is a description from start to finish of an FC-600 cycle.
1. The decedent is lowered directly into the main vessel via a mortuary lift (no scissor lift required as is recommended with a B.S. or Resomation® system). We do not use a basket to hold the body. The body rests on the bottom of the system. After loading the body, the operator can safely remove clothing, open a viscera bag, and remove a body bag or sheet. Once the body is inside the vessel, there is no longer a risk of contamination or fall risks owing to fluids dripping onto surfaces. There is no minimum weight load requirement. However, if the body weighs less than 115 pounds, the system will add fluids as if the weight were 115 lbs. The FC-600’s maximum capacity is a 500-pound decedent.
2. When working with a medical or donor facility, you could process multiple remains simultaneously. You would place the remains in polypropylene bags, similar to how the FC-600 performs communal, separated, private dog and cat water cremations. This is a link to a video of pets receiving private, communal separated water cremations: https://photos.app.goo.gl/NmxLwuiUxRfecapi8. You would handle body parts in the same manner. Notice in this video, https://photos.app.goo.gl/KAsRSMNakkZQPopYA, the hollow bones — there is no marrow remaining, as there is with other systems.
3. The operator closes the latches on the vessel, then goes to the control panel and starts the process. Unlike the B.S. system, no tipping is required. Operators can go about their day since the system autocompletes the dissolution.
4. The time required to add chemicals is based on the deceased’s weight: 5-20 minutes to add the 45% potassium hydroxide, water, and ethanol.
5. The time required to reach the operating temperature, 160F, varies based on the deceased’s weight, body temperature, chemicals, and water; typically, it takes 30 minutes.
6. The dissolution cycle runs for a minimum of 2.5 hours for bodies weighing less than 150 pounds. For bodies weighing over 150 pounds, each additional pound adds one minute to a maximum dissolution cycle of 240 minutes.
7. After the dissolution cycle, a pump transfers the essence into the neutralization station. This step takes 5-15 minutes.
8. Rinsing the bones and the system takes about 20 minutes and uses 18 gallons of water. Our system uses 90% less water than other alkaline hydrolysis systems.
9. Removing the bones and medical implants takes about 5 minutes. A dustpan and brush easily remove the bones from the bottom of the system. As you experienced, the B.S. systems are infamous for having brains remaining within the skull, tissue on the vertebrate, sinews clinging to baskets, marrow, and long-chain fats. This is a video of bones being removed from the FC-500, not the new FC-600: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tX8EE32aLuVzBYoQ6. The FC-600 does not have a screen. You can see how easy it is to remove all the bones and prevent cross-contamination.
10. The system is available to start a new cycle. The total dissolution time for bodies under 150 pounds is about 3-3.5 hours and about 5.5 hours for decedents weighing 500 pounds.
11. Optional neutralization process: The neutralization of the essence takes place in the neutralization station. Glacial acetic acid is slowly metered into a tube of circulating essence (similar to a drip IV). This process reduces the release of vapors. The bubbles disappear before the fluid goes back to the neutralization tank. Adjusting the pH level of the essence to meet local water treatment facilities’ pH limits or for land application is easy to achieve. We would never use carbon dioxide or citric acid to lower the pH. Some acids mixed with the base liquid form hazardous vapors. Acetic acid turns the essence into a natural organic soil amendment. This enables families to choose an Aqua Compost or an Aqua Burial.
12. A hose with a nozzle provides a final manual rinse if desired.
13. The bones go into a dehydrator for 5-12 hours. If using a convection oven, the time will vary based on the heat setting and airflow. Depending on the ambient conditions of the facility, bones can be air-dried. The time required to air-dry bones could take 18-48+ hours.
14. Dried bones are ready to be processed and placed in an urn. This process takes 5-15 minutes, depending on the processor’s speed and power.
15. The neutralized essence is emptied into the sewer or a holding tank. The time required to empty the neutralization vessel is 5 to 15 minutes. For an Aqua Burial, Aqua Burial at Sea, or Aqua Compost, the operator would fill five-gallon plastic containers with the person’s essence. This step takes 10-15 minutes.
16. If desired, manually rinsing the neutralization station takes a few minutes.
Ethanol breaks down the triglyceride esters. Systems using only water and alkali form a fatty layer on the surface of cooled effluent, plus a fatty film on the system’s interior and baskets. Ethanol is key to our patented process. It significantly reduces the cycle time by breaking down the fats so the alkali can break down the proteins.
This video shows the bone remains at the end of a human process: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rDUxsLDjzehGqvRrIreYShHYcA80Urmd/view?usp=sharing.
Our heaters are external to the main vessel. The B.S. Aquamation® systems use internal heaters, which eventually fail because of exposure to the alkali.
Here is a link to information on the explosion and destruction caused by the B.S.’ high-temperature system: https://chipfm.com/en/Explosion-at-Hayes-Funeral-Home-in-Shawville.
Low-temp systems are much safer; however, using just water and alkali does not work. In 2011, I closed my company, which had licensed technology from B.S., after discovering that four out of nine bodies still had brains in their skulls after 18-20 hours in the Aquamation® system. I could not believe B.S. was still selling systems. In 2019, I assembled and invested in a team of biochemists and former rocket engineers to see if we could solve all the problems with
Aquamation®. We did! The FC-600 is our fourth-generation alkaline hydrolysis system.
Our essence is sterile, which would not likely be the case with effluent if the bones still contained marrow or brains remained in the skull. Our system destroys all pathogens.
No one who has taken our alkaline hydrolysis $1,500 Challenge Scorecard Challenge has ever bought another system from B.S. or Resomation®. Visit our website for more details on the $1,500 Challenge.
Maintenance requirements are expected to be minimal. The main stainless-steel vessels should last “forever.” Pumps, heaters, and actuators should last many years. The pH meter must be replaced every year or so and calibrated periodically.
Customers would need a barrel dolly to move the chemical drums, possibly an explosion-proof fan and ductwork (@$3,000 for equipment and installation), personal protective equipment (@$200), miscellaneous items (hose, dust pan, cookie sheets (@$200), and electrical power to the system. No costly 3-phase power as the B.S. system requires (cost site-specific).
Here is a link to a news story about an FC-600 water cremation system customer: https://www.wbaltv.com/article/water-cremation-alkaline-hydrolysis-system-baltimore/62911100. The customer mentioned a million-dollar investment, but he was referring to the entire facility, not the cost of the system.
More information at www.firelesscremation.com
Thanks.
In the spirit of Clarence Darrow, there is one obituary for which I am waiting -- and once news breaks that this rapist/felon has dropped dead, I will dance in the streets. I already have a busy intersection picked out.
😏
Fascinating! Fun! Weird! A great combination!
So many things to think about, as our civilization sinks slowly in the east. First, why isn't popping the dearly departed into a hole in the ground somewhere in the forest the "most eco-friendly form of burial"? Second, what happens to the "strong alkali" after it helps turn you to slurry? Is it reusable? And third (three's enough), what's the deal with a jug full of bone powder? Why does that represent John Brown's body? Is it the dryness that makes it more pleasant to contemplate?
(Signed) Getting Older Fast
In the case that these are not rhetorical questions, ha! To quote Mark Twain, “ I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”
1. A bit out of left field, it’s actually the ability to recycle the precious-metal medical implants that remain after cremation and Aquamation that serve as a significant environmental credit. They are collected and the metals are melted down and reused. Mining these metals is very energy and environmentally intensive, and with burial they are forever removed from the usage loop. Otherwise - yes, without implants what is widely known as a “green burial” would likely have the lowest env impact, but there is still the factor of perpetual land use due to state laws. Is a perpetually designated grassland a bad thing? I wouldn’t think so. In some countries land availability is an issue, but not here in the US where we can spare some land for a beautiful green burial / nature conservation area. Anyway… no option is perfect, or maybe they all are. We don’t have to choose the “greenest” option after death, though it’s an important consideration to many. Everyone gets to make their own choice which I think is important.
2. The process uses 95% water and 5% alkali. The water performs the breakdown, but the high pH helps the water molecules dissociate into H+ and OH- ions, making it better at breaking bonds. The alkali is consumed by the end of the process. What’s left is 96% water and 4% small peptides, amino acids, sugars, nutrients, salt…as small as everything can be broken down. Not that this changes anything, but it’s not a sludge. It’s the same viscosity of water. And one way or another that final process water is recycled back to the environment. All pathogens, drugs in the body, even chemotherapy or embalming agents.- are destroyed by alkaline hydrolysis (the scientific name for the process).
3. Well, I guess you could put the final remains in a jug, or even a coffee can like in The Big Lebowski. Most families choose an urn, LOL! The final remains are similar to cremated remains. Which might not be helpful information… because sometimes what people expect when receiving cremated remains are ashes similar to what’s found in a fireplace after a fire. But that’s not the case. Just like with any other option with our bodies (including burial and cremation), the inorganic minerals are the only thing that remain. Every science textbook defines “ash” as the inorganic minerals that remain when all organic material has been decomposed. The result of all of these methods are Ash - calcium phosphate. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, as they say.
Why does that represent a person’s body? They are the final physical remnants of a person’s earthly existence - which is both scientific and symbolic. I like to think that these minerals have been along that person’s entire life journey. Or of course in the case of a pet, the same idea. In many cultures, the final resting place of these remains is very significant. We see people inter bodies and urns in holy ground. We see people, scattering ashes and meaningful places, or wearing a piece of jewelry that holds some of these minerals.
I enjoyed thinking about all of this today. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Sam
I worked on an alkaline hydrolysis brand (that is no longer with us) a few years ago, and we named it Pisces. RIP! I looooved working and thinking in that industry, and I recall we did try to rename the 'aquamation' process but the client ended up keeping that term as it was becoming recognized industry language.
Anyhoo, love this post!
“Choose Pisces and sleep with the fishes.”
I was introduced to another alternative to cremation (and traditional burial) by Mary Roach in her book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. (All her books are great.)
It’s called promession. It “takes a body, freezes it, vibrates it to dust, and dehydrates it, to create what the inventor claims is the most eco-friendly form of burial ever devised.”
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-burial-machine-that-will-freeze-your-corpse-vibrate-it-to-dust-and-turn-it-into-soil
Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt in 2015 without a promession facility having been built or put into service. Critics argue that there is a physical impossibility to atomize a freeze-dried human body in this way.
Too bad. It would be my first choice. The methods available are tightly controlled by the funeral industry; even “natural burial” is often illegal.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_burial
Love that book.
What does one cost?
This place says $3,750 to $10,000 in California. https://www.betterplaceforests.com/blog/aquamation-in-california/ "The cost depends on added services like body transport, memorial services and final resting place selection."
Surcharges for the VIDP section. Figures.
www.americancrematory.com sells an FC-600 alkaline hydrolysis system based on Fireless Cremation's patented system. It is less costly, faster, and works. Pricing is @ $220k all-in.
Aquacreme