This study aimed to investigate the kinetics of an aerobic bioremediation process of diesel oil removal by indigenous microorganisms, and to define the optimal operative conditions by means of response surface methodology. This was carried out by setting up a series of microcosms (200 g of soil), polluted with the same diesel oil concentration (70 g·kg −1 of soil), but with different water contents (u%) and carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratios. The process was monitored by: (1) residual diesel oil concentration, to measure the removal efficiency, and (2) fluorescein production, to check the microbial activity. These two parameters were the objective variables used for the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and response surface methodology (RSM). The results allowed the interactions between u% and C/N to be defined and the optimal range to be adopted for each. The process kinetics was modeled with first-and second-order reaction rates; slightly better results were achieved for the second-order model in terms of parameter variability. Biological processes like degradation may have effects on dielectric properties of soil; an open-ended coaxial cable was used to measure the dielectric permittivity of microcosm matrices at the start and after 130 days of bioremediation. The evolution of the real and the imaginary components of dielectric permittivity provided results that supported the evidence of a biodegradation process in progress.This oil is a mixture of several hydrocarbons, with gross composition of 2/3 alkanes and 1/3 aromatic hydrocarbons, all toxic compounds for living organisms. Its removal by biological processes has been the object of many studies [1-6] and many solutions have been given in terms of operative conditions, kind of microorganisms, and biological strategies. Moreover, soil properties can influence the process, which means that there is no one optimum solution. Biostimulation has proven to be one of the best solutions in terms of easiness and management of application, relative to the achieved results [2,3,7,8]. In this area, previous studies have demonstrated that good removal efficiency can be achieved when indigenous bacteria are stimulated with mineral salt media in order to aerobically biodegrade soil pollutants without any addition of other carbon sources [9,10].Given the multitude of findings, it can be useful to know the kinetics of the process for planning in situ remediation activities. Moreover, optimization of the process in terms of the optimal operative parameters for a given system of soil pollution can be of help to maximize the achievable results.Several studies [11][12][13][14][15] have shown that hydrocarbon removal can be modeled with first-or second-order reaction kinetics. The complexity of the biological process explains the different results produced by these models. The study of kinetics can be used to estimate biodegradation duration, considering the time to obtain acceptable pollutant removal.Process optimization can be based on factorial analysis and response surface methodolo...