From its scientific name “alkaline hydrolysis”, aquamation consists of cremation by water rather than by fire.
The body of Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, who died at the age of 90, will be reduced to dust by aquamation, a new cremation method based on the combination of water and high temperatures, presented as an ecological alternative to classical burial modes.
Like the technique of composting bodies with layers of leaves and wood, or liquid nitrogen, aquamation is a funeral method allowed only in some countries. In South Africa, the practice evolves in a certain legislative vacuum.
From its scientific name “alkaline hydrolysis”, it consists of cremation by water rather than by fire. The remains of the deceased they are deposited in a large metal cylinder and then immersed in a liquid, a mixture of water and alkaline products.
The substance is heated (around 150 ºC) and is put under pressure, a process that allows a rapid dissolution of the meats inside the box.
Less energy consumption than burning cremation
After only a few hours, the body’s tissues (fat, blood, proteins, skin …) are “completely liquefied, and only bones remain,” explains the site. funeral.info. These bones are then reduced to white powder, placed in an urn and given to the relatives to be buried, as will be Monsignor Desmond Tutu, or deposited in a columbarium.
From a symbolic point of view, water is considered softer than flames, and evokes the end of a life begun in the liquid element. But its defenders emphasize above all the ecological benefit of the method, less energizing than combustion cremation and emitting fewer greenhouse gases.
According to the UK-based company Resomation, water consumes five times less energy than fire.
It is also used to dispose of animal remains in slaughterhouses, where it is considered effective from a sanitary point of view. (I)
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