Tetrels Aims To Revolutionize Water Filtration With Graphene-Integrated Filter Products

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Tetrels aims to revolutionize water filtration with Graphene-integrated filter products that are twice as durable as competitor products for commercial applications (like sewage water treatment and seawater desalination). This would save hundreds of thousands in operation cost for water filtration plants annually. Below is our recent interview with Zisong Nie, CEO at Tetrels:

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Tetrels?

A: The company was co-founded by myself in mid 2017 at Princeton, New Jersey, after years of working experiences on both technology and investment side of Graphene industry, together with Dr. Kunzhou Li, a scientist from Seoul National University whose research area is focusing on water filtration and Nano-material.

So far, Tetrels has fully developed various Graphene-integrated filter products, like UF (ultrafiltration), NF (nanofiltration) and RO (reverse osmosis) filters, and we are working deeply with Tribal Ventures, our marketing partner, to approach potential customers for early market development. In the meanwhile, Tetrels is deploying mass production of our filter products in China, which are expected to be delivered in late 2019.

Q: What’s the main problem of traditional water filters?

A: Commercial water filters have a short life span. Bacteria accumulation on water filter system cartridges forces the replacement of each cartridge annually with normal use. As a result, the operation cost for filtration system is usually high, considering there’s usually hundreds of water filters in a filtration system, each costing over $1000.

Q: What makes Graphene the perfect material for water filtration?

A: Graphene is a Nobel Prize winning material that would enable hundreds of applications from compound material to flexible display. In Tetrels, we are looking at the anti-bacterial feature, hydrophobicity and mechanical properties of Graphene. Test result shows that by integrating Graphene into water filter membrane, the bacteria attachment and penetration is significantly decreased, leading to a doubled life-span of the filter compared with current existing products. In the meanwhile, the existing of Graphene (Graphene Oxide) makes the membrane surface more hydrophilic, thus guarantees high water throughput of filtration. The elongated life span and high water flux of Graphene-integrated filter would bring great savings for customers by switching to our product.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in launching your business and how did you overcome it?

A: Like any high-tech startups, the high burning rate for tech-transfer and product development was the biggest challenge for Tetrels, especially for emerging technologies like Graphene. As a solution, Tetrels finished the early stage R&D in an asset light fashion, where we had setup an agreement with Seoul National University (SNU) and “outsourced” the product development process to the university lab by taking advantage of their scientist team, equipment and facilities. In this way, Tetrels achieved technology milestone with value far beyond the price we paid, in a short period of time.

Q: What can we expect from Tetrels in the future?

A: Tetrels started as a provider of water filter products but in the future will position as a full service water treatment solutions provider. Worldwide, some 700 million people don’t have access to enough clean water, and in 10 years the number is expected to explode to 1.8 billion. In many places, squeezing fresh water from the ocean might be the only viable way to increase the supply. The traditional criticism of reverse-osmosis technology is that it costs too much. Our Graphene enhanced filters dramatically extend lifetime and notably improve desalination efficiency. In long term, we plan to set up desalination infrastructures in selected regions to address global water stress voluntarily by working with charities and NGO organizations.