In recent years economic, environmental, and strategic concerns over the use of petroleum resources have led to increased interest in renewable resources. Biomass gasification produces a synthesis gas composed of primarily carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, which can be fermented into a variety of fuels and chemicals. This study evaluated the performance of a two-stage approach to batch synthesis gas fermentations. The first stage employs a rich medium optimized for cell growth, while the second stage is designed to maximize production of acetic acid from synthesis gas. This two-stage approach is hypothesized to be more metabolically efficient than previous single-stage designs. This study presents the evaluation of known acetic acid producing organisms described in the literature, and efforts to isolate a novel microbial catalyst for synthesis gas fermentations. Finally, new techniques were developed and implemented in order to develop a more effective system for batch synthesis gas fermentations.