Eco-Friendly Non-Toxic Biomaterial Extracted from Waste Cow Bones

Aims: Exploitation of bone waste to extract a vital material of high economic value.

Study Design: The type of research is experimental.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Physics Education, Kristen Indonesia University, Jakarta, between March 2024 and September 2024.

Methodology: The calf bones used in this study were boiled for six hours to remove fat, after which they were cleaned with aquades, sun-dried, and completely dried. The bones were dried and then calcined for eight hours at 1000°C. After the bones were dried, they were pulverized into a fine powder in a mortar. Phosphoric acid was added to the resultant CaO powder to create hydroxyapatite using a wet precipitation technique. After that, the CaO powder and phosphoric acid mixture was sintered for five hours at 900°C. XRD (X-ray Diffraction) and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) measurements were used to determine the hydroxyapatite phase.

Results: The hydroxyapatite (HAp) phase, with a hexagonal crystal system and space group P63/m, was effectively produced, according to the XRD (X-ray Diffraction) analysis results. A different chemical, whitlockite (Ca57Mg6O168P42), with a trigonal crystal structure and space group R3c, was also created during this synthesis technique. The generated hydroxyapatite displayed agglomeration, according to SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) analysis, with most of the individual particles having a spherical shape. The generated hydroxyapatite particles ranged in size from 500 to 900 nm, which is in the nanoscale.

Conclusion: Utilizing cow bones as the starting material for bone filler, the hydroxyapatite (HAp) biomaterial was effectively synthesized utilizing the wet precipitation method. The synthesis results show that the generated HAp has a space group P63/m and a crystalline phase with a hexagonal crystal structure. The generated hydroxyapatite particles range in size from 500 to 900 nm, which is in the nanoscale.