CEDAR FALLS - A Plainfield manufacturer of bio-based lubricants has relocated to a leased facility in the Cedar Falls Industrial Park, until the company is sold and located at a permanent site in the Cedar Valley.

Environmental Lubricants Manufacturing, or ELM, which had its Plainfield facility destroyed by fire in March, has relocated to a 5,000 square foot building on Nordic Drive previously occupied by nearby Dalton Plumbing and Heating.

The firm had been operating out of a warehouse in Waterloo. but needed a heated facility with the onset of cold weather, board chairman Lou Honary said. The move has taken place over the past month.

The Industrial Park location is a temporary one, Honary said, until a sale of the company can be successfully negotiated.

The potential buyer, whom Honary said he is unable to disclose now, would keep the company in the Cedar Valley. Honary hopes the buyer will consider locating ELM at the Cedar Valley TechWorks in downtown Waterloo, a bio-based ag product research and development center being located on a former portion of John Deere's Westfield Avenue site.

"It will be in the Cedar Valley, and we certainly are interested in what happens to TechWorks," Honary said. "TechWorks would certainly be a consideration."

The firm has a one-year lease at its current location, but Honary is optimistic a sale could be transacted before that. Honary said financial incentives are being sought for the company's temporary relocation.

ELM presently employs about 10 people and Honary is optimistic the business will grow once a sale is completed.

"The goal was to get these products out to a larger market, and a new company is going to be very helpful for that," Honary said.

ELM was established in 2000 to commercialize lubricants and greases created at the university's lubricants center.

The company still has two storage tank farms at the Plainfield site, said Dennis Clark, an investor and board liaison.

"We will continue to use the storage facility which has access to rail transport, but use tankers to transport base oil materials to our new Cedar Falls location," Clark said.

The tank farms escaped the fire and provide more than six million pounds of storage.

The fire began when oil leaked out of a machine onto the floor and caught fire. Flames rapidly grew out of control and spread throughout the 25,000-square-foot building.

No one was injured.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or Pat.Kinney@wcfcourier.com