Producing hydroxyapatite from fish bones by heat treatment

The present work demonstrates a low cost route to produce hydroxyapatite (HA) from fish bones (natural source) by a simple heat treatment process. The produced HA was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Elemental composition obtained from energy dispersive X-ray analysis confirmed the presence of Ca, P, O and Mg. XRD analysis has clearly shown that the produced phase as HA. The powders were heated from 600 to 1000 degrees C and from the TEM observations, large fused crystals (approximate to 200 nm) were noticed. XRD analysis of the heat treated powders have also not shown new phases and which is an indication of the purity level of HA.