Meat and bone meal (MBM) combustion residues, a natural apatite-rich substance, was evaluated as a low cost substitute for hydroxyapatite in lead sequestration from water effluents. The thermal behaviour of crude meat and bone meal was followed by TGA and 24% inorganic residue was collected. The resulting ashes were characterised by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size distribution, specific surface area (BET), and elemental analysis confirming apatite contents, with high level of phosphate (56.3%) and calcium (36.8%). Mechanism and kinetics of lead removal by this bioinorganic material were investigated and compared to mechanisms and kinetics involved with synthetic apatite. Batch metal removal experiments were carried out with 500 and 1500 ppm (mg/kg) Pb2+ solutions. Lead concentration, calcium and pH were monitored. We observed that the mechanism is similar to that occurring for pure apatite, and involved both surface complexation and calcium hydroyapatite (CaHA), Ca-10(PO4)(6)(OH)(2), dissolution followed by less soluble Pb-10(PO4)(6)(OH)(2) precipitation, as confirmed by XRD analysis of ashes after incubation with lead solution. Our results show that this natural apatite-rich material removes in a few minutes a large quantity of lead (275 mg/g capacity) which remains however lower than the theoretical maximum capacity (if calcium were totally substituted by lead). Meat and bone meal combustion residues represent a valuable alternative apatite source for environmental application. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.