To evolutionists, abiogenesis is distinct from biological evolution for some very apparent reasons, most prominently that we know so very little about it.
I disagree with this. The main reason that they are separate is the biological evolution deals with living things that we
know possess the capabilities necessary for evolution to take place: imprefect replication in a selective environment.
Since evolutionary like processess have been proven to be very powerful there are suggestions that chemicals (or at least things we would otherwise have a hard time as recognizing as alive might allow for conditions where evolutionary mechanisms might be allowed. However, since it is chemistry (not biology) that we are discussing paths which get to "real" life without "evolution" happening are also considered.
If the research is involved with non-living things that don't undergo darwinian evolution it would not be biology. If it is not biology it is not in the area of biological evolution. They are simply separate.