Anna wants to be cremated.   She wants to be disposed of in a fast, no fuss way.

But Anna is concerned about the environmental impact of cremation.   What about the carbon dioxide produced?   The cremation of the average Australian male produces 50 Kg of carbon dioxide (TerraDaily), and Anna wonders what her final carbon footprint will be.   She is also concerned about the mercury pollution as her filling evaporate.   (To find out more about the general environmental and global warming effects of cremation visit our Environmental Impacts and Global Warming pages).   And then there is the wood for her coffin......

Perhaps resomation could be the answer - just like dissolving in a hot bath.

Here's how Anna is prepared for resomation:

• She is placed stainless steel basket lined with silk.
• The stainless steel basket is placed in a wooden "coffin".
• The silk enclosure is sealed to form a silk box.

Later the basket is slid out on teflon rails into the resomator.   The "coffin" can be re-used.

Since silk is used for Anna's box, perhaps she can make her final journey in her best silk stockings and undies.   Anna should look her best before she dissolves away.

Anna slides into the resomator.   The integral load cells weigh Anna, and the appropriate amount of water and alkali are added automatically to the vessel.   Hundreds of litres of water mixed with potassium hydroxide (a strong alkali pH 14) are used to dissolve Anna away.   With the aid of steam the vessel is quickly heated to around 150-170 degrees centrigrade.   Anna is not boiled because the pressure in the vessel is sufficiently high that the water does not boil.

The alkali digests Anna by the forced insertion of water molecules into her proteins, fats, carbohydrates and genetic material.   In this way it dissolves her tissues.   Anna's DNA is totally broken down to its constituent compounds, and her proteins to amino acids and a few very small peptides.   Just think of the fat in Anna's tits being broken down into fatty acids. Tits today, soap tomorrow.

The whole process is just a nice hot bath in which the alkali eats away at Anna.   It takes about 30 minutes to dissolve Anna's tissues once the alkali gets going, and the time for the whole process is about 3 hours.   Anna is probably a medium sized woman, but for once size doesn't matter - the largest body will be dissolved in a similar time as the smallest.

Anna's resomation is controlled by a Siemens touch-screen and PLC. (Programmable Logic Controller - a device used to automate monitoring and control of industrial equipment).   The PLC collects all the data about Anna's dissolution and allows downloading of this information to a remote PC.   The unit also allows any faults to be diagnosed via the Internet.

After three hours of the resomation experience Anna has disappeared totally.   Calcium phosphate outlines of her bones remain.   The calcium phosphate is very soft and can be crushed in the hand.   Anna's filling can be clearly seen and picked out.   If Anna had any metal implants these would be in excellent condition and could be removed and recycled.

Also remaining are many litres of a liquid containing building blocks Anna was made from: amino acids, peptides, sugar and mild soap.   This liquid has a very faint smell of soap.

The calcium phosphate is crushed and returned to Anna's boyfriend in an urn as a little memento of her.

With amino acids, peptides, sugar and soap....

The liquid produced by resomation can be applied on horticultral land, so Anna's molecules have a great future as lawn feed.

So how does the man or the street or the woman in park view resomation?   Not very well if these letters to a national newspaper are to be believed, although they appear to spring from misunderstanding of the process.

"This may be better for the environment, but personally it turns my stomach to think of being boiled. My dad wants to be cremated, and I want to be buried, let's stick with the traditional ways please." Raven.   Misunderstanding: No boiling takes place the pressure in the vessel is too high.

"I'm not opposed to this idea. What nobody has mentioned though is what happens to all the water that has all the boiled down meaty bits in it.   Also, this year it's not a matter of importance but what happens when we have water shortages?"   Margaret.   Misunderstanding: No meaty bits since all tissue will be reduced to its basic organic molecules.   The available information does not give exactly how much water is required, but at least the water will be recycled unlike the natural gas used in cremation.

Perhaps resomation will take a little time to be accepted, as was the case with cremation.

Resomation has all the advantages of cremation:

• Quick.   Anna will have dissolved away in three hours.
• Complete.   Anna will have gone completely by the end of the process.
• Clean.   Anna won't rot and putrify.

Resomation also has advantages over cremation:

• Mercury fillings are not evaporated to pollute the atmosphere, but can be picked out at the end of the process.
• Coffins are not burnt - reducing global warming.
• Pacemakers do not need to be removed prior to resomation.
• Jewelry is not destroyed and some can be recovered after resomation.
• Any drugs in the body are destroyed in the resomation process.

This page was created September 2007.   Sadly, at the time of writing it is not possible to resolve Anna into her component molecules.   Over 1000 bodies have been resolved into a dilute soup of organic compounds at American medical schools, as have many animals over the last 10 years - so your dog might be resolved before you!   However, no resomation units currently exist in UK crematoria.

A resomation unit will fit neatly into an existing crematorium and I predict that it will be widely available over the next few years.

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Want more information on resomation?   You could try the Daily Mail newspaper who broke the story, but it is probably best to go straight to the resomation.com website which contains the detailed information on which this page is based.

Want to know more about cremation?   Try our: Cremation Process, Ashes, Cremation Step by Step, pages.

...or maybe the issue afterwards, your web-master puts on his thickest tights and experiences a Swedish system for freeze drying bodies.   Brrrr this liquid nitrogen is cold.   I feel fragile.   Mind what you do with that hammer!