Sustainable approach for recycling waste lamb and chicken bones for fluoride removal from water followed by reusing fluoride-bearing waste in concrete

•Sustainable approach for waste bones management was evaluated.•Fluoride removal by adsorption onto raw unmodified waste bones was studied.•Excellent fluoride removal efficiency was obtained using lamb and chicken bones.•Use the fluoride-bearing sludge to partially replace the fine aggregate in concrete mixes.•Properties of fluoride sludge-modified concrete mix indicated a promising approach. Sustainable management of waste materials is an attractive approach for modern societies. In this study, recycling of raw waste lamb and chicken bones for defluoridation of water has been estimated. The effects of several experimental parameters including contact time, pH, bone dose, fluoride initial concentration, bone grains size, agitation rate, and the effect of co-existing anions in actual samples of wastewater were studied for fluoride removal from aqueous solutions. Results indicated excellent fluoride removal efficiency up to 99.4% and 99.8% using lamb and chicken bones, respectively at fluoride initial concentration of 10mgF/L and 120min contact time. Maximum fluoride uptake was obtained at neutral pH range 6–7. Fluoride removal kinetic was well described by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. Both, Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models could fit the experimental data well with correlation coefficient values >0.99 suggesting favorable conditions of the process. Furthermore, for complete sustainable management of waste bones, the resulted fluoride-bearing sludge was reused in concrete mixes to partially replace sand. Tests of the mechanical properties of fluoride sludge-modified concrete mixes indicated a potential environmentally friendly approach to dispose fluoride sludge in concrete and simultaneously enhance concrete properties.