Something similar to what the Mafia has been using for years to make people disappear. Part of the claim is that it is more energy efficient and also takes care of prion (Mad Cow like disease) which they claim cremation doesn’t.
While it takes energy to bring up a ‘crematorium’ up to 1800 degrees, it really isn’t that much (oddly like preheating an oven). After the body starts burning, it is actually producing energy. When you burn at 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, you will oxidize proteins – and many other compounds – that includes misshapen prions. Cremation would be more efficient if the bodies were cremated one after the other without cool-down and ash recovery – but that would not work too well for the ‘departed’s relatives and friends.
What the article misses is the amount of energy required to create Potassium hydroxide, and that the resulting solution afterwards, while not as ‘alkaline’, is still on the toxic side due to the amount of Potassium in the mixture; Potassium which is also hard to remove. Subtracting for the body, the mixture is about 30% Potassium by volume, more than 60% by weight. I can’t adjust for the amount of water added to make the strong disolving alkaline mixture because I don’t know what concentration it is. Like Sodium which also makes a strong base as a hydroxide, Potassium is toxic to humans and plants. In reality, it is probably not as environmentally friendly as they are making it sound like.
