I was pleasantly surprised by what I read earlier today. No algae contains lignin ( I double checked with my science colleague and she confirmed it.) Now that simply begs the question as to why algae high in cellulose are not used for cellulosic ethanol ? We all know that the cellulose being bound by the lignin is what makes pretreatment (a very costly operation) a must for cellulosic ethanol. If algae don't contain lignin, there is no need for pre-treatment, and cellulosic ethanol from algae should be far cheaper than cellulosic ethanol from other biomass...
Am I missing something or am I a genius?