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Case Study – Purdue University

Summary

This report presents a comprehensive review of Alkaline Hydrolysis – the process, it’s applications, historical use, the operation, disease agent considerations, environmental implications, and general advantages and disadvantages of the process.

Highlights

  • Listing of places where Alkaline Hydrolysis is used and other details:
    • List of facilities that use Alkaline Hydrolysis and the application they use it for.

    Chart credit Kaye, 2003

  • Cost considerations regarding facilities using Alkaline Hydrolysis
    • Cost estimates for operation of an alkaline hydrolysis tissue digester with 2,000 lb capacity (Powers, 2003).

    Chart credit Powers, 2003

  • Advantages of Alkaline Hydrolysis in processing remains includes:
    • Combination of sterilization and digestion into one operation
    • Reduction of waste volume and weight by as much as 97%
    • Complete destruction of pathogens, including prions
    • Production of limited odor or public nuisances
    • Elimination of radioactively contaminated tissues
  • Disadvantages include:
    • At the time of the report (2004), there was limited capacity for processing of large volumes of remains in the U.S.
    • Potential issues regarding disposal of effluent

For the full report, please click the link below to view the report in .pdf format.

Purdue University Study on Alkaline Hydrolysis (.pdf)