Lafayette filter company Tusaar gets Chinese product certification

LAFAYETTE — Tusaar, a Lafayette company producing products to remove metals from drinking water, has gotten the certification it needs from China to verify that its products work, are safe and can be sold to consumers there.

“In the U.S., there is limited customer awareness of what we do; not everyone is running to treat their water for metals,” Gautam Khanna, CEO of the company, told BizWest. “In China, there is a very high level of concern, because of the presence of metals in water because of industrial pollution. We’ve been working on the U.S. market but also made inroads in the Chinese market, so we started setting up distribution and business activity. The first step was getting the government to certify the product as safe.”

That certification was received in December, and now the company is looking to manufacture in South Asia and start marketing the product in China.

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Tusaar’s filters work by using coconut carbon. (Khanna added that the company is not manufacturing in China because the country does not have coconuts). While coconut carbon has been used as a water filter for a long time, it had never been used to remove metals from water. But Tusaar’s proprietary technology managed to use coconut carbon to remove metals, without using significant chemical additives.

To get the certification, a government-certified lab in China had to test the product, which took about two to three months. Khanna said the company has plans to also get certified for North America and Europe.

Tusaar is targeting the home user with its product, to be used for commercial and residential use. The metal removal system — which is focused on removing lead — is fitted under a sink or may be attached to the end of a faucet. Tusaar also has plans to make filters for refrigerators.

Looking ahead, Khanna said Tusaar is in serious conversations with companies in China for distribution. There is potential as well to work with filter brands and have them utilize Tusaar’s metal-removing features.