Egg white can filter out microplastics  

To purify the water

Microplastics are everywhere now, but the problem may have a very simple solution. Princeton University scientists used…eggs to create a porous aerogel that can remove microplastics and salt from seawater by filtering them.

Specifically, when they froze and then superheated egg whites to a temperature of 900 degrees Celsius in an oxygen-free environment, the protein system produced a mixture of carbon fiber and graphene that can remove 99% of microscopic plastics and 98% of salt.

As you can see an already existing organic matter like egg has its benefits as it is cheap to produce and only needs gravity to work while not consuming energy or excess water. Furthermore, the discovery may have been made with eggs, but by the same logic other proteins can be used that will not affect the food supply to humans.

However, airgel is not yet ready for widespread use. Scientists need to improve its manufacturing process before it goes into mass production. But when that happens, we will have an easy and cheap way to filter water with minimal environmental impact. In addition, the ability to filter and salt can be used in areas where drinking water is hard to come by and the only way residents have water is desalination.