A straw-activated carbon has been successfully synthesized with the high BET surface area, at 494.9240
m2/g, which is perfectly suitable for the adsorption of cephalexin antibiotic from aqueous water. It is
noted that the adsorption capacity of straw-activated carbon is demonstrated by the effect of initial
concentration, contact time, pH solution and dosage. The straw-activated carbon exhibited improved
decontaminant efficiency towards cephalexin antibiotics. Quick and improved sorption could be
attributable to the distinctive structural and compositional merits as well as the synergetic contribution
of functional groups to surface material. Most interestingly, the adsorption capacity achieved at pH 6
was ~98.52%. A mechanism adsorption has been proposed to demonstrate adsorption of the
straw-activated carbon (AC-S). By comparison with other studies, it is confirmed that AC-S in this
study obtained a higher removal efficiency than other adsorbent materials, suggesting that
straw-activated carbon may be an appropriate candidate to treat cephalexin from wastewater media