Pyrolysium.org is a web platform for the promotion and development of pyrolysis as an efficient way to dispose of human remains using the least amount of energy possible. Pyrolysis is the decomposition of organic material through heat in the absence of oxygen. The word pyrolysis is coined from the Greek-derived elements Pyr “fire” and Lysis “separating”.
Humanity has long travelled along an unsustainable path and is now confronted with a scarcity of fossil fuels, rising global temperatures due to a higher CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, an economic model in tatters and an exponentially rising population.
Pyrolysium helps to solve problems in all these areas. It does not lay claim to land that we need to grow food. It limits the use of scarce fossil fuels by requiring less material to burn and lower temperatures to burn it at, reducing the formation of carbon dioxide. It turns human remains into biochar, a process which also greatly reduces the amount of carbon dioxide produced. The biochar can be used for the planting of a commemorative tree or buried as a long term carbon sink.
Pyrolysium is a low-tech, viable alternative to current standard burial and cremation practices and to expensive modern high-tech alternatives, which are based on the assumption of endless resources and which depend on sophisticated practices and steady supply lines. Pyrolysium tries to make the whole process so simple that in principal no controls and no electricity are needed.
Pyrolysium.org will be a forum for collaboration in an “open source” kind of way to improve, develop and divulge this idea, and to make sure that it is not patented so that it is available to the whole human race as a tool to be used on the down-slope towards a sustainable future.
Hello Egidius,
I sincerely appreciate your vision and think that this process offers much more in regard to honoring the life of a loved one that has passed than embalming or standard cremation. Think of the value of fruit or nut tree planted in biochar mix, providing food for decades. How about if corpse first allowed to be exposed to black soldier fly larvae that are feed to chickens or fish then feed to family , cycling the matter of the loved one back through the rest of family. I am now using an 85 gallon TLUD to make char here in Portland Oregon. Best regards and I would enjoy collaborating on a project such as bone char filter for air and water to give back to family.
Sincerely,
Jeff Holiman
Portland, OR
Ha. That is a really neat idea. Still though… why not just compost them?
Composting takes place in the living layer above or just below the ground. The undesirable side effects of that process has given rise in the past to burial and cremation practises. Pyrolysium strives to be a carbon negative technological solution for the masses dwelling in the urban areas with no access to traditional burial grounds and burning material for cremation.