Evaluation of Compressive Strength of Eggshell Hydroxyapatite

This paper presents an in-vitro evaluation of compressive strength of a locally produced hydroxyapatite from eggshell. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a mineral that naturally occur in form of calcium apatite with the formula Ca5 (PO4)3(OH) but it is usually written as Ca10(PO4)6(OH). Hydroxyapatite (HA) is an example of bioactive ceramics that most commonly used in the bone implantation, as coating on prostheses or as bone filling material. Eggshell waste is available in huge quantity from food processing, egg breaking and hatching industries. This material goes as waste products and leads to pollution since it is microbial action in the environment and it is simply burned as organic waste that releasing CO2. By utilizing this organic waste that has high content of calcium carbonate, the cost of high quality of calcium source for preparation of hydroxyapatite can be reduced. At the same time, recycling of eggshell can be done. Many methods have been introduced to convert the calcium carbonate of eggshell to hydroxyapatite. Hydrothermal method technique has been selected to convert the calcium carbonate obtained from the eggshell since the procedure to transform it is simple and straight forward. An addition, the material that been used is not so expensive as compared to other method. Mechanical properties such as compression strength will be done to compare the synthetic hydroxyapatite in the market and hydroxyapatite from the hen’s eggshell.