Clostridium ljungdahlii is an anaerobic, rod-shaped, motile, endospore-forming, gram-positive bacterium.

[2] 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.

[3] This species can ferment certain components of syngas into ethanol.

[4] It also possesses properties of electrosynthesis, producing acetate on cathodes.