Gadgetopia

or try hydrophilic acid (see Breaking Bad, S1 E02)

the cremation ashes thing.... i've always wondered if those are really your ashes. It seems a bit too convenient to me that a full human could be burned and the ashes fit nicely in a little urn you can keep on your mantel. I mean, are those all the ashes? Do they have a bigger pile, throw some away and just give you the rest? Can't they get the furnace hot enough so that you are effectively disintegrated and you would be left with little to no ashes? Who says they don't just keep a big pile of dust that they dole out to families and just get rid of all the real ashes?

and hey, who says you have to flush the lye-remains down the toilet? Just keep it in a milk jug and put it above your fireplace where the urn would be. :P

not to mention, you seem to have missed this sentence

In addition to the liquid, the process leaves a dry bone residue similar in appearance and volume to cremated remains. It could be returned to the family in an urn or buried in a cemetery.

That reminds me of an episode of CSI; a vagrant was being a nuisance to a hotel security guy, so the security guy beats him up, stuffs him into a duffel bag and leaves him out in the desert, figuring he'll wake up later and be able to get out on his own. Instead, CSI gets to figure out who became "the brownish, syrupy residue" left in the bag. Ugh.

As to the poster's question about the volume of cremains, the ash is strictly the bones. The rest goes out the chimney stack; at a high enough temperature, everything is flammable except the mineral content of the bones. It's one of the criticisms of cremation; it contributes to air pollution, and if the person was also embalmed before they were cremated, what goes in to the air can be quite toxic. On the other hand, decaying bodies full of formaldehyde can't do much to nourish the earth, either.

If anyone, here, has researched alkaline hydrolysis, then you know that the bones are not completely dissolved and have to be put into a cremulator to pound them into the dust that is the equivalent of what's left after the cremation process. If keeping what remains of a loved one is important, then alkaline hydrolysis would be an excellent alternative to cremation because it's better for the living by not producing residual polution. Another eco-friendly alternative I've read about is Compacting. In this process you are still left with a physical item consisting of the deceased, but in a decorative form. And it's also eco-friendly.

What is the agricultural nutrient value of the syrup? Is th ph to high?

JOE: The pH is fairly high because of the alkali used (pH ~ 10.9). Depending on the disposal method, this can be adjusted - I won't go into detail, but there are several methods for lowering that pH. I would assume if the process was used on human tissue, the resulting effluent would be disposed of through the sewer system. For the fluid remains of animal carcasses however, it would be beneficial to spread it as a fertilizer or add it as an enriching agent to compost or manure slurries. The fertilizer value would be similar to that of a rich compost fertilizer, or miracle grow. You can also harvest the methane for energy! The sterile fluid is an excellent stockfeed for anaerobic digesters. p.s. the bones (easily crushed) are great fertilizer as well! (spread it on your rose bushes!).... The biggest draw to alkaline hydrolysis tissue digestion is disease control. Cool stuff!! You'll be seeing more of it!