We report the synthesis of rod-like hydroxyapatite nanopowder from waste eggshells (decomposed to CaO) and phosphoric acid at room temperature without pH control. The procedure involves the use of a syringe pump to control the addition rate of the phosphoric acid in order to maintain a stable pH. Results revealed that pure, rod-like, and nano-size hydroxyapatite particles were produced at various addition rates. Moreover, the sample obtained from 200 ml/h addition rate exhibited large surface area (160.1 m(2)/g) and pore volume (1.0 cm(3)/g). Consequently, the prepared hydroxyapatite and that previously produced as adsorbents showed fast adsorption rates (10 min) as well as very high maximum adsorption (q(m) = 994.5 mg/g and 1000.5 mg/g, respectively) for Pb2+ in aqueous solution. Furthermore, the adsorption process revealed a pseudo-second-order reaction model and the equilibrium adsorption could be described by Langmuir model. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.