Assessing the Commercial Feasibility of Cryomation; the Zero Emission Alternative to Cremation

全球平均死亡率为0.085%，今年将有6000多万人死亡。火葬是世界上最主要的葬礼程序。火化一具100公斤的身体会产生180公斤的二氧化碳，同时还会造成大气中的重金属污染。传统的墓葬及其纪念碑、墓地及其持续维护被认为对所有殡葬过程的环境有最大的长期影响。预计到2050年，世界人口将增长到90亿以上。冷冻是火葬的一种零排放替代品，由赫特福德郡大学的KTP获奖开发，它使用液氮、冷冻干燥和加速堆肥来生产无菌人类遗骸。这一过程没有燃烧化石燃料的焚烧炉，没有有害的污水流，遗体可以被埋葬在比其他埋葬过程小得多的空间。遗体消失得无影无踪，这样土地就可以留给其他家庭成员了。随着加速堆肥的选择，遗体的大小减少到原来的六分之一左右，不仅是绿色葬礼和树下埋葬的理想选择，还可以将遗骸带回家，支持纪念植物的生命。在KTP下证明了这一过程背后的科学之后，Cryomation希望评估该过程的商业可行性，并量化其通过减少有害排放和利用本已稀缺的墓地对全球环境产生重大积极影响的潜力。

With average global mortality rates at 0.085% over 60 million people will die this year.Cremation is the leading funeral process in the world. Cremating a 100kg body produces180kg of CO2 as well as atmospheric pollution with heavy metals. Traditional Burial with itsmemorials, cemeteries and their ongoing maintenance is considered to have the greatest longterm impact on the environment of all funeral processes. The world population is forecast togrow to over nine billion by 2050.Cryomation is a zero emission alternative to Cremation, developed through an award winningKTP at the University of Hertfordshire, which uses Liquid Nitrogen, freeze drying andaccelerated composting to produce sterile human remains, . The process has no fossil fuelburning incinerators, no harmful effluent streams and the remains can be buried in a muchsmaller space than other burial processes. The remains disappear to nothing so land could bereused for other family members. With an accelerated composting option, the remains arereduced to around 1/6th of the size of the original body and not only ideal for “green” funeralsand burial under trees but could also allow remains to be taken home in a pot, supporting thelife of a memorial plant.Having proven the science behind the process under the KTP, Cryomation want to evaluatethe feasibility of delivering the process commercially and quantify its potential to have asignificant, positive impact on the global environment, by reducing harmful emissions andmaking use of already scarce burial land.