Water cremation
[7] The result is a quantity of green-brown tinted liquid (containing amino acids, peptides, sugars and salts) and soft, porous white bone remains (calcium phosphate) easily crushed in the hand (although a cremulator is more commonly used) to form a white-colored dust.
[7] This alkaline hydrolysis process has been championed by a number of ecological campaigning groups,[9] for using 90 kWh of electricity,[10] one-quarter the energy of flame-based cremation, and producing less carbon dioxide and pollutants.
[13] Alkaline hydrolysis is also used in the agricultural industry to sterilize animal carcasses that may pose a health hazard, because the process inactivates viruses, bacteria, and prions that cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.
[18] In Christian countries and cultures, cremation has historically been discouraged and viewed as a desecration of God's image, and as interference with the resurrection of the dead taught in scripture.
In 2011, Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington and then chairman of the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), determined it "unnecessarily disrespectful of the human body.
"[24] The Archdiocese of St. Louis explained that it was considered this way because the Church took concern with the final disposal of the liquid solution, which is typically to the sewer system.
The use of an imu on human bodies is no longer allowed, but aquamation may offer an alternative as it produces similarly clean bones.
[27] Aquamation based in New South Wales is the only company to provide alkaline hydrolysis in Australia, with the remains being used as fertilizer on plantation forests, due to difficulty with obtaining permits from Sydney Water.
[30] The Flemish minister of Interior Administration Bart Somers asked in September 2021 the opinion of an advisory bioethics committee on resomation.
[37] Taking into account the council's recommendations, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations prepared a law proposal to amend the Corpse Disposal Act.
Once the proposed law has been submitted to the Parliament, the democratic process to admit alkaline hydrolysis as body disposal technique can be commenced.
In November 2019, Avbob introduced aquamation in South Africa, following the mutual assurance society's recent introduction of the alkaline hydrolysis process at its Maitland agency in Cape Town.
[39][40] In July 2023, the BBC reported that “[w]ater cremation is set to be made available for the first time in the UK.”[41] Alkaline hydrolysis as a method of final disposition of human remains is legal in 24 states as of 2022[update].
