Nickel ions abatement from aqueous solutions and shipbuilding industry wastewater using ZIF-8-chicken beak hydroxyapatite

In this work, a biocompatible material from chicken beak containing hydroxyapatite (HApB) was modified by the zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) compound and used in the Ni²⁺ abatement from aqueous solutions. Different experimental techniques were used to investigate the properties of adsorbents (HApB and HApB/ZIF-8). The active surface values ​​of ZIF-8, HApB, and HApB/ZIF-8 were determined to be 1063.6, 12.2, and 267.2 m².g⁻¹, respectively. The synthesized adsorbents had a crystalline structure. Maximum Ni²⁺ adsorption using HApB (98.82%) and HApB/ZIF-8 (99.12%) was recorded at pH7, Ni²⁺ quantity of 10 mg.L^-1, sorbent mass of 2 and 1 g.L^-1, and treatment time of 80 and 40 min, respectively. The kinetic data followed a pseudo-first-order kinetic equation. The intra-particle diffusion equation revealed that penetration through water film and diffusion into particles are effective in Ni absorption. The solid-adsorbent equilibrium using HApB/ZIF-8 followed the Freundlich equation. The maximum decontamination capacity using HApB and HApB/ZIF-8 was determined 24.27 and 63.49 mg.g⁻¹, respectively. Changes in thermodynamic factors showed that the Ni absorption is optimal, exothermic, and spontaneous. The adsorbents were recycled up to 5 cycles and the main adsorbent (HApB/ZIF-8) had a severe efficiency drop in cycles 4 and 5. Investigation of industrial wastewater treatment showed that the desired adsorbents have a nice potential to decontaminate metal ions from aqueous media and wastewater of shipbuilding industries.