Oil pollution is a national problem. Research and development of bioremediation
technologies for petroleum waste is a priority. The Center for Environmental Studies of
Cienfuegos, together with the Institute of Marine Sciences and the Institute of Soil
Research, are executing the national project "Evaluation of biopile ecotechnology for
bioremediation of petroleum waste using texturizers". The determination of the shape
and size of the experimental units constituted a scientific demand for bench-scale
research. The aim was to design and to assemble the experimental biopile units on a
bench-scale to evaluate the effectiveness of bioremediation of petroleum waste. Was
carried out the study of the state of the art. Were considered the design criteria of the
ecotechnology, the requirements of the design of experiments, and the characteristics
of the experimental site. Was adopted the shape of a truncated pyramid. Was
programmed an Excel workbook to perform the mass balance at the experimental unit
level and determine its dimensions. The assembly of the experimental units confirmed
the validity of the engineering design. An ingenious solution was provided to a
scientific demand for research, which was applied on a bench-scale and will become
generalized in the scale-up of ecotechnolog
