diff --git a/src/openfermion/contrib/representability/_multitensor.py b/src/openfermion/contrib/representability/_multitensor.py
index e63b0805b..53f77e13d 100644
--- a/src/openfermion/contrib/representability/_multitensor.py
+++ b/src/openfermion/contrib/representability/_multitensor.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def __iter__(self):
 
 
 class MultiTensor(object):
-    def __init__(self, tensors, dual_basis=DualBasis()):
+    def __init__(self, tensors, dual_basis=None):
         """
         A collection of tensor objects with maps from name to tensor
 
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ def __init__(self, tensors, dual_basis=DualBasis()):
         self.off_set_map = self.make_offset_dict(self.tensors)
 
         # An iterable object that provides access to the dual basis elements
+        if dual_basis is None:
+            dual_basis = DualBasis()
         self.dual_basis = dual_basis
         self.vec_dim = sum([vec.size for vec in self.tensors])
 
@@ -81,8 +83,7 @@ def add_dual_elements(self, dual_element):
         if not isinstance(dual_element, DualBasisElement):
             raise TypeError("dual_element variable needs to be a DualBasisElement type")
 
-        # we should extend TMap to add
-        self.dual_basis.elements.extend(dual_element)
+        self.dual_basis.elements.append(dual_element)
 
     def synthesize_dual_basis(self):
         """
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ def synthesize_dual_basis(self):
 
         :returns: sparse matrix
         """
-        # go throught the dual basis list and synthesize each element
+        # go through the dual basis list and synthesize each element
         dual_row_indices = []
         dual_col_indices = []
         dual_data_values = []
diff --git a/src/openfermion/contrib/representability/_multitensor_test.py b/src/openfermion/contrib/representability/_multitensor_test.py
index 620fa07e3..40fb398c1 100644
--- a/src/openfermion/contrib/representability/_multitensor_test.py
+++ b/src/openfermion/contrib/representability/_multitensor_test.py
@@ -94,6 +94,33 @@ def test_add_dualelement():
     mt.add_dual_elements(dbe)
     assert len(mt.dual_basis) == 1
 
+    dbe2 = DualBasisElement()
+    dbe2.add_element('b', (0, 1, 2), 5)
+    mt.add_dual_elements(dbe2)
+    assert len(mt.dual_basis) == 2
+
+    A, bias, scalar = mt.synthesize_dual_basis()
+    assert A.shape[0] == 2
+    # Verify that the elements are correctly added as DualBasisElements
+    # and not as their internal tuples (which would cause synthesis to fail).
+    assert isinstance(mt.dual_basis[0], DualBasisElement)
+    assert isinstance(mt.dual_basis[1], DualBasisElement)
+
+
+def test_multitensor_init_isolation():
+    # Test that different MultiTensor instances don't share the same dual_basis.
+    a = np.random.random((2, 2))
+    at = Tensor(tensor=a, name='a')
+    mt1 = MultiTensor([at])
+    mt2 = MultiTensor([at])
+
+    dbe = DualBasisElement()
+    dbe.add_element('a', (0, 0), 1.0)
+    mt1.add_dual_elements(dbe)
+
+    assert len(mt1.dual_basis) == 1
+    assert len(mt2.dual_basis) == 0
+
 
 def test_synthesis_element():
     a = np.random.random((5, 5))