(Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News) Sep. 11--WAVERLY, Iowa--Anearth-friendly alternative to petroleum-based transformer oils may begoing global.BioTrans may be more widely available to electric utilities because of acollaboration linking Cargill Industrial Oils and Lubricants, WaverlyLight and Power and the Electric Research and Manufacturing Cooperative.WL & P General Manager Glenn Cannon said Tuesday Cargill has purchased thepatent for the soy-based oil used in electrical transformers and relatedproducts. The product was developed at by the University of NorthernIowa's Ag-Based Industrial Lubricants research program."The best way to put this is that it is a win, win, win situation," Cannonsaid. "Everybody benefits from this."Cargill will manufacture a line of bio-based lubricants sold under theBioTrans brand name. ERMCO, which has exclusive rights to market BioTransfluid in Canada, Mexico and the United States, plans to off the fluid inits electrical transformers.Cargill is the largest privately owned company in the world and the secondlargest employer in the state of Iowa. Because Cargill has a worldwidemarketing base, BioTrans is getting attention.It's for good reason, according to Kurtis Miller, head of CargillIndustrial Oils and Lubricants."Many applications are near water and other sensitive settings," Millersaid."Utilities will use environmentally sound products, so long as theyperform.BioTrans oil is high performing and earth-friendly --- a perfectcombination."Cannon said BioTrans is a good choice. The oil is also considered saferthan petroleum-based solutions because of its high fire and flash-pointtemperature, low gas emission and energy efficiencies."BioTrans is readily biodegradable and it is also non-toxic," he said."BioTrans also increases the life of a transformer because it does notlose as much energy," Cannon said.Mineral oils can also be replaced by BioTrans in certain applications."This is a great use for Iowa grown crops and it is great for the localeconomy," Cannon said.Cannon said the product could mean big business for soybean producers."In the United States annually there are 40 million gallons of oil used intransformers," he said. "This is a good deal for Iowa farmers."