clostridium ljungdahlii clostridium ljungdahlii clostridium ljungdahlii is an anaerobic, rod-shaped, motile, endospore-forming, gram-positive bacterium. it is named after the biochemist lars g. ljungdahl. when originally harvested from the waste matter of animals, it tended to produce acetate with respect to ethanol, but a major undertaking to increase the ethanol-to-acetate ratio was initiated. a 1993 publication by researchers from the university of arkansas, in cooperation with oak ridge national laboratories, showed results from a series of continuous reactor studies caused a major change in the bacterium's preference for ethanol production, which increased from <0.1 g/l to 1.8 g/l in a continuous stirred tank reactor. clostridium ljungdahlii scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: bacillota class: clostridia order: eubacteriales family: clostridiaceae genus: clostridium species: c. ljungdahlii binomial name clostridium ljungdahliitanner et al. 1993 this species can ferment certain components of syngas into ethanol. it also possesses properties of electrosynthesis, producing acetate on cathodes. notes tanner, r.s., l.m. miller, and d. yang (1993) clostridium ljungdahlii sp. nov., an acetogenic species in clostridial rrna homology group i. int. j. syst. bacteriol. 43:232-6. lpsn.dsmz.de, list of prokaryotic names with standing nomenclature. phillips, j. r.; klasson, k. t.; clausen, e. c.; gaddy, j. l. (1993-09-01). "biological production of ethanol from coal synthesis gas". applied biochemistry and biotechnology. 39 (1): 559–571. doi:10.1007/bf02919018. issn 1559-0291. younesi, h., g. najafpour, and a.r. mohamed (2005) ethanol and acetate production from synthesis gas via fermentation processes using anaerobic bacterium, clostridium ljungdahlii. biochem. eng. j. 27:110-119