Mercury emission from crematoria.

The purpose of this study, undertaken at a cremator representing an example of current equipment and cremation practices in use in Italy, is to assess the possible mercury emitted during cremation and substantiate the current data available. This paper reports some preliminary results concerning mercury and total particulate matter emissions during three cremation processes. The obtained results gave a mercury concentration ranging from 0.005 to 0.300 mg/m3 and a mercury emission factor ranging from 0.036 to 2.140 g/corpse cremated. The total particulate matter concentration range was 1.0 to 2.4 mg/m3.