By George Gill
 
BioBlend Renewable Resources has added 10 marketers to its U.S. distribution network for vegetable-based industrial lubricants, doubling its market coverage in the last six months.
 
“Our goal is to have an ability to deliver product into at least the 48 contiguous states by the end of the year,” company spokesman Gary Bevers told Lube Report. “All of our distributors are petroleum jobbers and lubricant distributors.”
 
The latest additions are Sampson-Bladen in North Carolina; Wilcox and Flegel, and Snider Petroleum, which are both based in Washington; and Windward Petroleum. Rounding out the 10 additions are Shoco Oil in Colorado, Suburban Oil in Ohio, J.B. Dewar in California, Mid-Town Petroleum in Illinois, Haycock Petroleum in Nevada and Dennis K. Burke Inc. in Massachusetts.
 
BioBlend relies on toll blenders and does some of its own lubricant blending at a facility in Joliet, Ill. BioBlend President Sam Burkett said the company is encouraged by the rate at which traditional petroleum distributors have come aboard. “They’re seeing BioBlend as a natural expansion of their petroleum product lines,” Burkett said.
 
Houston-based BioBlend was launched in April 2007 with seed capital from Quest Technology Ventures, a private investment firm that focuses on start-ups in information technology and energy. The company focuses on continued expansion of its portfolio of biodegradable lubricants, penetrating oils, hydraulic oils and greases.