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Water, Sanitation & Environment
Turning waste chicken feathers into clean drinking water
A low-cost filter that pairs sand with keratin from discarded chicken feathers to strip heavy metals from drinking water.
Poultry farms throw away mountains of feathers; millions drink unsafe water. This project connects the two problems into one solution.
The challenge
The poultry industry generates enormous quantities of waste feathers that degrade slowly and are costly to dispose of. At the same time, industrial pollution is loading water with heavy metals that are toxic, accumulate in the body, and build up in food crops.
Most commercial water filters are simply too expensive to use at scale.
The approach
Feathers are rich in keratin, a natural protein that can bind contaminants. The team designed and built a drinking-water purification system that couples ordinary sand filtration with keratin extracted from waste feathers, acting as an adsorbent for heavy-metal ions and nano-scale contaminants.
The nanofilters are deliberately low-cost, eco-friendly, and simple enough to be built on a farm.
A hazardous waste stream becomes a low-cost filter that meets WHO water-quality levels.
Results & impact
Keratin-efficiency tests were completed and filter prototypes produced — with filter bodies and cartridges made in partnership with a manufacturer — and two MSc students trained along the way.
The approach turns a hazardous waste stream into clean water while cutting pollution, and the team is drafting a policy brief and seeking support to scale the prototype.
This research was funded by the Government of Uganda through the Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund — one of a growing directory of projects turning national investment into real-world results.
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