The operators at crematoriums heat bodies to 1,750 degrees Fahrenheit for two to three hours. Cremation is the process of reducing a body to ash and bone by fire in an industrial furnace. The purpose is to identify the deceased and authorize cremation. The body is placed in the retort, the crematory chamber. A cooling period is needed afterward. The resulting product is called cremains, stored in an urn.
While some older crematoriums do emit potentially hazardous substances like particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide into the air, modern crematoriums are designed to minimize these emissions as much as possible. These facilities may be required to comply with specific regulations and to install emission control equipment to help minimize their environmental impact, which may include scrubbers and high-efficiency particulate air filters.
Coffins are designed to be fully demolished during the cremation process, and it takes a lot of heat to cremate a body—so much heat, in fact, that at the end, there’s usually little or nothing left of the coffin amid the ashes. Crematoriums are regulated for polluting output like any other combustion-based industry.
The smell coming from a crematorium can vary greatly depending on several factors. When a body is cremated it produces a variety of odors. These smells together create a distinctive odor typically associated with a crematorium. The intensity of odors can spread within a certain radius.