Data on cephalexin removal using powdered activated carbon (PPAC) derived from pomegranate peel

Cephalexin is extensively used as an antibiotic for treatment a number of bacterial infections. The data of possible adsorption mechanism and isotherm of Cephalexin on the synthesized adsorbent are depicted in this data article. The data obtained showed that the adsorption trend follows the pseudo-second order kinetic model and that the Langmuir isotherm was suitable for correlation of equilibrium data with the maximum adsorption capacity of 48.78 mg/g. Considering the findings data, powdered activated carbon derived from pomegranate peel as available and a cheap adsorbent, could be considered as promising adsorbent for Cephalexin and probably similar organic pollutants removal from aqueous solutions.


a b s t r a c t
Cephalexin is extensively used as an antibiotic for treatment a number of bacterial infections. The data of possible adsorption mechanism and isotherm of Cephalexin on the synthesized adsorbent are depicted in this data article. The data obtained showed that the adsorption trend follows the pseudo-second order kinetic model and that the Langmuir isotherm was suitable for correlation of equilibrium data with the maximum adsorption capacity of 48.78 mg/g. Considering the findings data, powdered activated carbon derived from pomegranate peel as available and a cheap adsorbent, could be considered as promising adsorbent for Cephalexin and probably similar organic pollutants removal from aqueous solutions.
& This data will be useful for the water scientific community to design an adsorption column with adsorbent of PPAC as medium for the removal of cephalexin-containing waters or wastewaters.
Characterization data for PPAC derived from pomegranate peel as the newly synthesized adsorbent are given.
The data of isotherms and kinetics will be informative and useful for predicting and modeling of the adsorption and mechanism of cephalexin removal from aqueous solutions by PPAC.

Data
The pomegranate peel was collected from juice shops in Ardabil city in Iran, for the preparation of powdered activated carbon. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Philips X'Pert Pro instrument (the Netherlands) were used to obtain particle sizes and XRD patterns of the PPAC, respectively. The obtained data are shown in Fig. 1(a) and (b). The effects of solution pH and contact time on removal efficiency are presented in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. The equations of the studied isotherm and kinetic models are presented in Table 1. The kinetic and isotherm data are also shown in Tables 2 and 3, respectively.

Materials
All chemicals materials were purchased from Merck. Cephalexin (CEX) with purity 97% (C 16 H 17 N 3 O 4 S; MW ¼347.39 g/mol) was obtained from Sina Daru Co in Iran. The stock of synthetic CEX (1000 mg/L) was made by dissolving the required amount in deionized water and kept in a glass container at 4°C in darkness [1][2][3].

Preparation of powdered activated carbon (PPAC)
Pomegranate Peel was collected from juice shops in Ardabil city in Iran and then washed several times with distilled water to remove dust and impurities and then dried in an oven for 2 h at 100°C [4]. The well-grounded material was sieved through a 60 mesh screen and then it was soaked for 48 h in the ratio of 1:1 (w/w) with phosphoric acid (85 wt. % H 3 PO 4 ). The dried material was placed in a  Table 1 The equations of the studied isotherm and kinetic models [6][7][8][9][10].

Model types Name Equation
Isotherm models

Kinetic models
Pseudo first order Log(q e -q t ) ¼ logq e -(k 1 /2.303)t Pseudo second order t/q e ¼1/(k 2 q 2 e ) þ1(1/q e )t Table 2 Kinetic parameters of the pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order models for the removal of CEX by PPAC [11].

Determination of Cephalexin content and adsorption-desorption experiments
The effects of contact time, initial CEX concentration, pH, adsorbent dosage, temperature, and competing ions on the CEX adsorption efficiency were carried out in a batch manner in 100 ml conical flasks at 21 7 1°C. Synthetic CEX solution with initial concentration of 50 mg/L was prepared from a 1000 mg/L stock solution of Cephalexin. pH solution for each experiment was adjusted by using 0.1 M NaOH or H 2 SO 4 . Then, determined amounts of absorbent weights were added to the Erlenmeyer flasks. Thereafter, it was agitated at 200 rpm until predetermined contact time. After desired contact time, the samples were centrifuged and filtered using a Whattman paper (0.2 mm) [12] and finally the filtered sample was analyzed by double beam spectrophotometer (Model lambda 25-Perkin Elmer Company) at the maximum absorption wavelength of 261 nm to determine the residual cephalexin concentration [1].
The CEX removal efficiency (%) and the equilibrium adsorption capacity (qe, mg/g) was determined using Eqs. (1).and (2), respectively [13][14][15][16]: Where C 0 and C e are the initial and equilibrium concentration of the CEX (mg/L) respectively, V is the volume of the CEX solution (L) and m is the mass of adsorbent used (g).