# Could a Modern Auto Be Converted to Run on Rendered Zombie a la Bio-diesel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072 "2013-10-12T13:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/1 "2013-10-12T13:26:24Z")
Could a Modern Auto Be Converted to Run on Rendered Zombie a la Bio-diesel? In a post-apocalyptic zombie overrun world could generators and automobiles be converted to run on zombie renderings? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/2 "2013-10-12T14:09:06Z")
Zombies don’t seem to have much fat on them, and (decaying) meat and bone do not render down to an oil. I don’t think your idea is feasible. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/3 "2013-10-12T14:23:58Z")
> [@PatriotX](#): > > Could a Modern Auto Be Converted to Run on Rendered Zombie a la Bio-diesel? > > In a post-apocalyptic zombie overrun world could generators and automobiles be converted to run on zombie renderings? Need answers fast?:eek: Probably easier to just loot fast food places for oil for Bio-Diesel. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/4 "2013-10-12T15:27:36Z")
Diesel engines can be easily converted to run on straight fryer grease, so Zombie Grease™ should be no problem. Gasoline engines are another thing, though - their fuel requirements are much more strict. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/5 "2013-10-12T15:45:27Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Diesel engines can be easily converted to run on straight fryer grease, so Zombie Grease™ should be no problem. Gasoline engines are another thing, though - their fuel requirements are much more strict. Although to nitpick a little, converting a newer computer-controlled diesel to run on straight grease, or even refined bio-diesel, is fairly difficult. But if an older mechanical-injection diesel like an old VW Rabbit or Mercedes 240D count as “modern” those could definitely be turned into zombie-greasers pretty easily. Of course as the apocalypse drags on, perhaps car-makers will begin releasing diesels designed to run on a variety of zombie fuel blends (Z10, Z80, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/6 "2013-10-13T02:01:35Z")
Does it have to be biodiesel? If zombies are dehydrated perhaps they can be used as fuel for a steam engine? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/7 "2013-10-13T04:28:55Z")
> [@Boogly](#): > > Does it have to be biodiesel? > If zombies are dehydrated perhaps they can be used as fuel for a steam engine? Sure, it’s been suggested. [Cecil on mummies used as locomotive fuel](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2341/do-egyptians-burn-mummies-as-fuel). Mind that he doesn’t say that it _wouldn’t_ work, just that there’s no evidence that it happened. Fryer grease running cars smell like french fries. I do _not_ want to drive behind the zombie car. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/8 "2013-10-13T04:55:05Z")
[Thermal depolymerization](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_depolymerization) would be one process for converting animal biomass into synthetic fuel—however, the real-world pilot program seems to have folded, from legal and financial problems. :dubious: [Plasma conversion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_Converter) might work, too. I imagine you could burn _other_ zombies to power the synthetic fuel production processes, or possibly just use humans for one or the other, depending on how desperate/evil you are. Vehicles with turbine engines can burn a wider variety of fuels, as well. [Several automobiles _have_ been designed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Automobiles_powered_by_gas_turbines) with turbine power, but they’re somewhat rare. I’ll leave it to others to debate the possibility of merely harnessing the zombies like oxen to propel a cart. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/9 "2013-10-13T05:55:13Z")
I think the approach that has the best prospects is to use the magic that animates the zombies to power your contraptions. “Classic” zombies that are immortal except for headshots, and zombies in popular media like The Walking Dead, clearly ignore any known laws of physiology. Basically, they are animated by magic, which allows them to do work without needing air or food or blood flow. Perhaps the spell requires brains of the living to continue functioning, which would explain why zombies will try to eat the brains of people, and why when they lose the remnants of their brain they die. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/10 "2013-10-13T12:01:02Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > Perhaps the spell requires brains of the living to continue functioning, which would explain why zombies will try to eat the brains of people, and why when they lose the remnants of their brain they die. I’ve long held the theory that zombies “killed” by destroying the brain aren’t actually “dead” (or, er, “double-dead”?)—no more than removing the engine of car or the CPU of a computer “destroys” the machine. The zombie’s body, and possibly surviving pieces of it’s brain, are in fact _still “alive”_—or “animated undead”—but without a brain attached and connected enough to control the body, it simply remains motionless. And on the nature of zombie animation and energy supply, there’s an entry in one of my miscellaneous reference files from a few years back that I love—apparently from a message board somewhere, but I’ve long lost the source. :smack: ☹ > [@Unknown](#): > > Well… There are necrotizing bacteria, but zombie tissue is already necrotic. They probably don’t have an active immune system, but that doesn’t mean that whatever’s keeping them going is not in some way also making them more resistant to decomposition, which seems to be the case. At the very least, whatever it is, it stops the cells in the human body from undergoing autolysis, or else zombies would go immobile pretty damn fast. > > I actually started thinking a bit about it (how zombies move) when CAV brought up the nerve agent thing and I think zombies do have a metabolism, an anaerobic metabolism. Keep in mind this little theory is full of holes cause I’m no biologist. > > Somehow the mitochondria at the cellular level might be replaced with an anaerobic organelle that can consume glucose in the absence of oxygen generating about 1/13th of the usual energy output and like some strains of clostridia produces acetic acid as a waste product, which slows decomposition. But in the absence of available glucose the cells undergo autolysis which explains tissue necrosis. > > The energy output is so low that it might not support tissue regeneration, it appears to generate no body heat, and it probably contributes to why zombies have no apparent throught process (not enough power to juice the whole brain) and the shambling (not enough energy for a regular walk, let alone a sprint or jog). > > That sort of organelle replacement might be the result not of a virus but a plasmid, a kind of evolutionary precursor to a virus. I think a plausible explanation of how the “virus” might work is that it’s not actually a virus, it’s a collection of several different microorganisms in a symbiotic relationship: A plasmid, anaerobes and certain strains of bacteria similar to the one that causes botulism, which is why Z-flesh is toxic even after cooking. These organisms could go into a dormant stage when not actually interacting with living matter, which means that the energy produced by the breakdown of glucose would be temporarily stored and give zombies the capacity for short bursts on energy after periods of inactivity and it also means that any traces remain dangerous and infectious for prolonged periods of time. In this case zombies are not seeking living tissue to consume for sustenance or because only the basic parts of the brain remain operational but because they are mobile transmission vectors for the “disease”, which is also why they don’t attack each other or corpses. > > Edit: Sorry I realized I didn’t answer your question Matt. I guess you’d need tissue samples to see what kind of microorganisms decompose zombie flesh most effectively to see if that’s viable, but in theory it should be possible. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-modern-auto-be-converted-to-run-on-rendered-zombie-a-la-bio-diesel/671072/11 "2013-10-14T00:12:01Z")
**Moderator Action** While there are some factual aspects to this topic (biodiesel, for example) there’s enough non-factual zombie related stuff in here that I think it’s best that we clear the shopping mall out and herd these zombies over to IMHO. This will open the topic up for more braiiiinnnnsssss (or maybe opinions) and still allows the factual aspects to be answered. Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.