A cremation machine

Abstract

A cremation machine 100 comprises a cremation chamber 111 which receives a corpus, with a primary flue 112 on a first side of the chamber and a secondary flue 113 on a second side of the chamber. A ba

Description

Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a cremation machine, particularly, but not exclusively, to a cremation machine comprising a baffle to direct gasses. Background Dental amalgam fillings are used to fill cavities caused by tooth decay. Dental amalgams contain 50% of elemental mercury by weight. An electric cremation furnace’s primary and secondary chamber are kept at a minimum temperature with the aim of having enough energy available to start the cremation process. The heat energy released by the coffin and body during the cremation process generates an excess of heat energy which is absorbed by the refractory formed primary and secondary chamber. This maintains the required preheat temperature of the refractory materials for the next cremation to commence. Electric Cremators have a regulatory requirement to install a mercury abatement / particulate filter system downstream of the secondary chamber discharge. This process equipment is required to cool all emissions, capture any particulates discharged and absorb mercury vapor if present, this process requires considerable amounts of electrical energy to reduce the temperature of all emissions generated during the cremation process from the secondary chamber discharge temperature of a regulated minimum of 850 degrees centigrade to below 150 degrees centigrade. Elemental mercury vapor is effectively absorbed by carbon black at temperatures below 150 degrees centigrade. As known by those skilled in the art, an existing electric cremator uses 85% less energy than an LPG cremator, has a 50% reduction in NOx (Nitrogen Oxide) emissions and offers more than an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions thus providing a sustainable cremation process. As known by those skilled in the art, the purchase of an existing mercury abatement plant requires a large capital investment, takes several weeks to install and commission, incurs a high annual operating cost and uses reasonable amounts of additional electricity. As known by those skilled in the art, electric cremations machines have been used for 30 years in the United Kingdom, during this period the design has been improved. With the latest version being able to comply with particulate discharge regulations without the use of particulate filters. Summary The invention disclosed is a cremation machine, such as an electric cremation machine designed to provide an apparatus to separate and capture mercury emissions at source. Separation at the source of the elementary mercury within the primary chamber is facilitated by installation of a (ceramic) internal baffle and additional small diameter flue complete with variable speed extractor fan. The skull, jaw bones and teeth are not cremated during the cremation process. The human brain is approx. 2% of total body mass. Emissions generated during the cremation process of the human brain will mix with the mercury vapor being released from any dental fillings in the teeth. The mercury vapor is recovered via the additional flue by a variable speed extractor fan. The optional variable speed extractor fan is preferred to ensure the smaller flues negative pressure is maintained below that of the larger and higher temperature emissions discharged from the secondary chamber flue. The compacted heat exchanger, mercury abatement unit is positioned in line in the smaller diameter additional flue. Any mercury vapor and particulates released during the cremation process of the head of a corpus are recovered.by the compacted mercury abatement plant, and not discharged to the environment. The amount of additional electrical power required to operate this compacted heat exchanger and mercury abatement system is reduced by 80% in turn reducing overall CO2 emissions and the sustainability of the electricity cremator. Therefore, according to the present invention there is provided a cremation machine designed to separate, minimize and capture mercury emissions at source. In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cremation machine according to Claim 1. In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cremation system according to Claim 11. In a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cremation method according to Claim 13. Brief Description of Drawings Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described byway of example only, with reference to the following diagram, in which: - Figure 1 is a schematic of a cremation system comprising a cremation machine and a coffin. Detailed Description An embodiment of the disclosure is described subsequently. Although a particular embodiment of the disclosure is disclosed herein in detail, this has been done by way of example and for the purposes of illustration only. The aforementioned embodiment is not intended to be limiting with respect to the scope of the appended claims. Figure 1 shows a cremation system 100. The cremation system comprises a cremation machine 110 and a coffin 120, the coffin 120 configured to hold a corpus to be cremated. The cremation machine 110 comprises a cremation chamber 111 (referred to in the art as a primary chamber) for receiving a corpus to be cremated. The cremation chamber 111 is generally hollow. As would be known to those skilled in the art, heat is applied to the cremation chamber 111 so as to burn the corpus. The cremation machine 110 further comprises a primary flue 112 on a first side of the cremation chamber 111. The cremation machine 110 further comprises a secondary flue 113 on a second side of the cremation chamber 111. The first side and the second side of the cremation chamber 111 are divided by a baffle 114. The baffle 114 extends downwardly from the top of the cremation chamber 111 (such as downwardly from the ceiling of the cremation chamber 111). The baffle 114 may be arranged to be generally vertical. The baffle 114 acts to split the gasses emanating from the corpus during cremation into two portions, namely, a first (larger) portion which exits the cremation chamber 111 via the primary flue 112 and a second (smaller) portion which exits the cremation chamber 111 via the secondary flue 113. The baffle 114 is arranged to guide the first portion of the gasses on the first side of the cremation chamber 111 and the second portion of the gasses on the second side of the cremation chamber 111. The baffle 114 is arranged such that the first portion of the gasses and the second portion of the gasses substantially do not mix. The baffle 114 is arranged as closely as possible to the corpus such that the gases from the corpus as divided into the first portion and second portion as early as possible. In certain arrangements, the baffle 114 is arranged to abut (or be immediately adjacent to) the coffin 120. The cremation machine 110 (in particular, the cremation chamber 111 and the baffle 114) is configured such that the corpus (in the coffin 120) is positionable so that a larger proportion of the corpus is on the first side and a smaller proportion of the corpus is on the second side. In this manner, the first portion of the gasses from the corpus is larger in proportion (e.g. by mass) than the second portion of the gasses from the corpus. To assist in the correct placement of the coffin 120 (and therefore the corpus disposed therein) the cremation system comprises a stop system. For example, the coffin 120 includes a coffin stop 121 which is configured to abut against a stop of the cremation chamber 111 (e.g., as shown in Figure 1, a wall of the cremation chamber 111). Depending on the size of the coffin (and therefore the corpus) different lengths of coffin stops may be used so as to ensure that that the corpus is positioned with the larger proportion (e.g. the body, arms and legs) on the first side and the smaller proportion (e.g. the head) on the second side when the stop of the cremation machine (e.g. the wall of the cremation chamber 111) and the coffin stop 121 abut with each other. The primary flue 112 is larger than the secondary flue 113. For example, the primary flue may be approximately 400 mm in diameter (and optionally up to 10 m high). The secondary flue may be approximately 150 mm in diameter. The secondary flue 113 is connected to an abatement unit 115 (such as a mercury abatement unit) such that the second portion of the gasses may be processed, as would be understood by those skilled in the art. The secondary flue 113 may comprise an extractor, such as an extractor fan. The extractor fan may be of a variable speed. The extractor is configured so as to maintain the same or lower pressure than the primary flue 112. This is preferred so as to prevent the second portion of the gasses being extracted towards the primary flue 112 as the primary flue 112 will naturally have a lower pressure due to its larger size. With the above system, the head of the corpus may be positioned within the cremation chamber 111 such that gasses from cremation from the head are guided by the baffle 114 into the secondary flue 113 and into the abatement unit 115. The remainder of the gasses (e.g. from the body, arms and legs) are guided by the baffle 114 into the primary flue 112. With such an arrangement, the abatement unit 115 may be smaller than in the existing cremation machines as it only has to process a small fraction of the gasses (e.g. only those from the head of the corpus). It is contemplated by the inventors that various substitutions, alterations, and modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Further disclosure is provided in the following numbered statements: 1. Separation at the source of elementary mercury vapor within the primary chamber of an electric cremator is allowed by installation of a fixed ceramic internal baffle, allowing for loading of a coffin with combustible coffin end stop bonded to head of coffin containing a corpus into the primary chamber of the electric cremator. 2. A electric cremator with additional small diameter exhaust flue complete with a variable speed extractor fan to recover elementary mercury vapor that is mixed with all other emissions produced from the additional chamber formed in the primary chamber by installation of a fixed ceramic internal baffle. 3. A electric cremator with a compacted mercury abatement system consisting of an integrated heat exchanger, particulate filter and carbon black filter positioned inline between the additional small diameter exhaust flue and the variable speed extractor fan.to capture particulates or mercury vapour produced and discharged from the additional chamber formed in the primary chamber by the addition a fixed ceramic internal baffle during the cremation process.

Claims

1. A cremation machine comprising:a cremation chamber for receiving a corpus to be cremated;a primary flue on a first side of the cremation chamber;a secondary flue on a second side of the cremation chamber, the secondary flue being connected to an abatement unit;a baffle arranged to divide the cremation chamber into the first side and the second side such that gas from the corpus during cremation is split and guided to either side of the baffle towards the primary flue and the secondary flue,wherein the cremation machine is configured such that the corpus is positionable so that a larger proportion of the corpus is on the first side and a smaller proportion of the corpus is on the second side.

2. The cremation machine of Claim 1, wherein the primary flue is larger than the secondary flue.

3. The cremation machine of Claim 1 or 2, wherein the secondary flue comprises an extractor, such as an extractor fan, optionally, wherein the extractor is a variable speed extractor.

4. The cremation machine of any preceding claim, wherein the cremation machine is an electric cremation machine.

5. The cremation machine of any preceding claim, wherein the baffle is ceramic.

6. The cremation machine of any preceding claim, wherein the cremation chamber comprises an upper ceiling, and wherein the baffle extends downwardly from the upper ceiling.

7. The cremation machine of Claim 6, wherein the baffle extends generally verticallydownwardly from the upper ceiling.

8. The cremation machine of any preceding claim, wherein the abatement unit is a mercury abatement unit.

9. The cremation machine of any preceding claim, wherein a lower end of the baffle is located in close proximity to the corpus.

10. The cremation machine of any preceding claim, wherein the cremation chamber comprises a stop such that a coffin holding the corpus may be abutted against the stop so that the corpus is positioned with the larger proportion on the first side and the smaller proportion on the second side.

11. A cremation system comprising:the cremation machine of Claim 10; andthe coffin for holding the corpus, the coffin comprising a coffin stop, wherein the stop of the cremation machine and the coffin stop are configured such that the corpus is positioned with the larger proportion on the first side and the smaller proportion on the second side when the stop of the cremation machine and the coffin stop abut with each other.

12. The cremation system of Claim 11, further comprising another coffin stop with a different length to the coffin stop, wherein the coffin stop and the another coffin stop are interchangeable.

13. A cremation method comprising:positioning a corpus in a cremation chamber of a cremation machine; burning the corpus thereby releasing gasses from the corpus;directing, by a baffle, a larger proportion of the gasses to a primary flue and a smaller proportion of the gasses to a secondary flue,wherein the secondary flue is connected to an abatement unit.

14. The cremation method of Claim 13, wherein the secondary flue is connected to the cremation chamber at approximately the same or lower pressure than the connection of the primary flue to the cremation chamber.5 15. The cremation method of Claim 14, wherein the secondary flue comprises anextractor, such as an extractor fan, so as to maintain the same or lower pressure than the connection of the primary flue to the cremation chamber.

16. The cremation method of any one of Claims 13 to 15, wherein the baffle is positioned10 directly over the corpus such that the gasses are immediately directed by the baffle.

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