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 Cu 2+ and Co 2+ 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.