Well, obviously if you’re interested in establishing or proving the viability of algae-based biodiesel fuel, then you need to do an overview of the entire process: harvesting and raising the algae, providing the environment to maintain them and the energy (light) input for them to do their work, then harvesting the product that you intend to refine into fuel, the chemical reactions (and processes and equipment) necessary to do that, and compare those costs with the current (and predicted future) costs of drilling for crude oil and refining that.
In other words, it’s not enough to determine that “it can be done”, you need to show (for viability) where the break-even cost point is, and maybe make some predictions about how to improve the process or synthesize the operation to speed it up or increase the yield. You also can’t forget about waste and byproducts. You don’t want to verify a process that leaves worse pollution problems, for example, because of the process used. (Or at least you want to propose ways to address those problems.)
You may also be interested in this. I’m positively thrilled by this news, and can’t wait to see what comes of it.