Researchers take a step forward in turning chicken feathers into water filters

New University of Alberta research is fluttering closer to turning chicken feathers into an effective filter for water decontamination.

Experiments using two chemical agents have improved how keratin from the feathers adsorbs — or sticks to — heavy metals usually found in surface, well or dugout water used by poultry producers for their stock.

The research shows that for the first time, the bio-based filter can remove up to 99 per cent of eight heavy metals simultaneously — the highest numbers yet, says Muhammad Zubair, who conducted the work to earn a PhD in bioresource technology from the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences. 

That finding increases the throwaway poultry byproduct’s potential as a low-cost, sustainable way to solve a larger global problem, he says. 

“Access to clean drinking water is a key to building a healthy and sustainable society, yet many countries, like in South Asia, have groundwater that is contaminated with heavy metals. Arsenic alone has affected 137 million people in 70 countries.”