Thermal treatment of sodium montmorillonite with tuning performance for the absorption of amantadine hydrochloride

Herein, the adsorption performance of sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT) for amantadine hydrochloride (AMH) was optimized through a heat treatment. The removal rate of hydrochloride amantadine by Na-MMT(500) can reach 89.94% under the optimum adsorption conditions of heat treatment temperature of 500 °C with an initial concentration of AMH by 200 mg·L-1. The excellent performance may be plausibly attributed to a synergistic mechanism involving ion exchange, surface hydroxyl complexation and electrostatic interactions, which are facilitated by thermal treatment–induced structural reorganization and an increase in specific surface area.