A thermal processing apparatus (2) is furnished with a loading device, a cremation chamber (10), a heating device (14) for heating the cremation chamber (10), a fresh air supply device, an exhaust gas manifold (18a) for discharging the exhaust gas from the cremation chamber (10), a post-combustion chamber (28), and an exhaust air processing device (38). In order to provide a thermal processing apparatus with which a cremation process with minimal CO.sub.2 emissions can be carried out and an acceleration of the cremation process is achieved, it is proposed that the heating device (14) is designed to burn hydrogen.

The burner preferably exclusively burns substantially explosible solid fuels and preferably has instant ON-OFF thermostat control, wastes no energy preheating the enclosure or external air supply, achieves stable combustion the moment the powder-air mix is ignited in our burner, is used in the upward vertical mode except for oil burner retrofits, burns a solid fuel in a single-phase regime as if it were a vaporized liquid or gas, is designed to complete combustion within the burner housing itself rather than in a large, high temperature furnace enclosure which it feeds, has an ultra-short residence time requirement, is a recycle consuming burner with self-contained management of initially unburned particles, is much smaller, simpler and lower cost, has a wider dynamic range/turndown ratio, is more efficient in combustion completeness and thermal efficiency, and operates with air-fuel mix approximately at the flame speed.