diff --git a/rln/utils.go b/rln/utils.go
index a43e2a3..d87313d 100644
--- a/rln/utils.go
+++ b/rln/utils.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"hash"
 	"math/big"
+	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/consensys/gnark-crypto/ecc/bn254/fr"
 	"golang.org/x/crypto/sha3"
@@ -76,9 +77,9 @@ func Bytes128(b []byte) [128]byte {
 }
 
 func Flatten(b [][32]byte) []byte {
-	var result []byte
-	for _, v := range b {
-		result = append(result, v[:]...)
+	result := make([]byte, len(b)*32)
+	for i, v := range b {
+		copy(result[i*32:(i+1)*32], v[:])
 	}
 	return result
 }
@@ -137,6 +138,11 @@ type KeccakState interface {
 	Read([]byte) (int, error)
 }
 
+// Avoids multiple allocations if used frequently
+var keccak256Pool = sync.Pool{New: func() interface{} {
+	return NewKeccakState()
+}}
+
 // NewKeccakState creates a new KeccakState
 func NewKeccakState() KeccakState {
 	return sha3.NewLegacyKeccak256().(KeccakState)
@@ -145,11 +151,17 @@ func NewKeccakState() KeccakState {
 // Keccak256 calculates and returns the Keccak256 hash of the input data.
 func Keccak256(data ...[]byte) []byte {
 	b := make([]byte, 32)
-	d := NewKeccakState()
-	for _, b := range data {
-		d.Write(b)
+	h, ok := keccak256Pool.Get().(KeccakState)
+	if !ok {
+		h = NewKeccakState()
 	}
-	d.Read(b)
+	defer keccak256Pool.Put(h)
+	h.Reset()
+	for _, b := range data {
+		h.Write(b)
+	}
+
+	h.Read(b)
 	return b
 }
 
diff --git a/rln/utils_test.go b/rln/utils_test.go
index e8ba168..c7610c2 100644
--- a/rln/utils_test.go
+++ b/rln/utils_test.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package rln
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"fmt"
 	"math/big"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -48,7 +47,6 @@ func TestHashToBN255(t *testing.T) {
 	msg := []byte{1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}
 
 	out := HashToBN255(msg)
-	fmt.Println("out: ", out)
 	require.Equal(t,
 		[32]byte{69, 7, 140, 46, 26, 131, 147, 30, 161, 68, 2, 5, 234, 195, 227, 223, 119, 187, 116, 97, 153, 70, 71, 254, 60, 149, 54, 109, 77, 79, 105, 20},
 		out)