Ethanoligenens harbinense is a hydrogen-producing, fermenting bacterium that shows potential for bioenergy-related applications, including biofuel production from waste streams.
[3] Ethanoligenens harbinense was named by Xing and co-authors in the original discovery paper, which reported that the bacterial strains had been isolated from molasses sludge wastewater.
Ethanoligenens means 'ethanol-producing', and comes from 'ethanol' and the Latin verb 'genere', to produce; harbinense is a reference to Harbin, the city in China where the type strain was isolated.
[5] Since Ethanoligenens harbinense is a high hydrogen gas producing bacterium, it is often used as a model organism to study [Fe–Fe]-hydrogenase activity.
[6][7][8] The mechanisms that give Ethanoligenens harbinense the ability to produce bio-hydrogen by fermenting organic wastes, including wastewater, allows this bacteria to be crucial for biofuel and bioenergy production.