Effectiveness of Calcium Deficiency in Nanosized Hydroxyapatite for Removal of Fe(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Cr(VI) Ions from Aqueous Solutions

In this work, nanosized calcium deficient hydroxyapatite (nCDHA) was synthesized by the precipitation method, and then utilized as an adsorbent for removal of Fe(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions after characterizing it by various techniques as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and BET method. A possible structure of synthesized nCDHA was proposed. The adsorption study indicated that the adsorption equilibrium is well fitted with Langmuir isotherm model with the maximum adsorption capacities followed the order of Fe(II) > Cu(II) > Ni(II) > Cr(VI) with the values of 137.23, 128.02, 83.19 and 2.92 mg/g, respectively. The ion-exchange mechanism was dominant for the adsorption of metal ions onto nCDHA at initial metal concentrations lower than 0.01 mol/L. Along with the ion-exchange mechanism, there was an additional precipitation occurred on the surface of nCDHA in the case of Fe(II) and Cu(II) at initial concentrations higher than 0.01 mol/L.