Heavy Metals Removal Using Nano-Hydroxyapatite Extracted from Cattle Bones

Abstract

Local cattle (lamb and camel) bones were used as a starting material to obtain pure nano-hydroxyapatite n-HAp. Extraction of nano-HAp is done at 700 °C and 900 °C calcination temperatures, followed by some characterization technics such as FTIR spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, XRD diffraction pattern, SEM and EDX analyzes. All the technics used have confirmed that calcination at these temperatures leads to a material in which pure hydroxyapatite is the only crystallographic phase. The heavy metals removal capacity of n-HAp applied to Cu2+ and Co2+ from aqueous solutions was exanimated and compared. The obtained results were interpreted and compared based on; (i) the calcination temperature, (ii) the nature of the adsorbed cation on the nano-hydroxyapatite surface and (iii) the nature of the adsorbent.