Chemical, structure and thermal characterisation of biowaste fish bone parts for orthopaedic coatings

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fish bone waste is a valuable source of natural hydroxyapatite (HA). In this study, different sections of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus); head bone (T-HEB), otolith bone (T-OTB), operculum bone (T-OPB), and spine bone (T-SPB) were considered for potential natural HA biomaterial. The findings show that the T-OTB powder had a lower size particle distribution with 16.99 µm (d0.5) while T-OPB had the highest one with 148.14 µm (d0.5). Irregular particle morphology was observed for T-OPB, T-OTB, and T-SPB except for T-HEB powder, which owns needle-sharped particles. The phase analysis and the presence of the functional groups of OH−, CO3−2, and PO3− 4 belonging to HA confirmed the formation of HA for previous samples. In contrast, the T-OTB powder was mostly composed of CaO fitting with aragonite peaks according to elemental and phase analyses. The thermal analysis revealed that the volatile/organic compounds were removed completely above 622 °C for T-HEB, T-OPB, and T-SPB and the total mass loss of them was less than 2.17%. While this temperature was 864 °C for T-OTB and total mass loss was higher at 44.5%. The Ca/P ratio of T-HEB, T-OPB, and T-SPB powders was found to be 0.49 higher than the stochiometric HA. The findings suggest that T-HEB, T-OPB, and T-SPB powders can be used in the area of orthopaedic coatings.