To understand the potential of using swine lagoon wastewater to cultivate Botryococcus braunii for biofuel production, growth characteristics of B. braunii 765 cultivated in aerated swine lagoon wastewater (ASLW) without sterilization and pH adjustment were investigated. The results showed that the alga strain could maintain competitive advantage over the 26-day cultivation. The highest dry biomass of alga grown in ASLW was 0.94 mg L-1 at day 24, which was 1.73 times that grown in BG(11) medium, an artificial medium normally used for B. braunii cultivation. And the algal hydrocarbon content was 23.8%, being more than twice that in BG(11) medium. Additionally, after the 26-day cultivation, about 40.8% of TN and 93.3% of TP in ASLW were removed, indicating also good environmental benefits of algal bioremediation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.