Coagulants polyaluminum chlorides with a high Al-30 content (PAC-Al-30) were prepared in laboratory, and the aluminum hydrolysis ratios (B = [OH-]/[Al-3(+)]) of PAC-Al-30 were 1.2, 1.8 and 2.4 respectively. Coagulation behaviors of PAC-Al-30 with different B values and conventional coagulant AICl(3) were compared by jar test to remove humic acid (HA) from water. Floc growth, charge neutralization capacity, HA removal and residual aluminum concentration in the purified water were investigated. The influences of initial pH and coagulant dosage on coagulation behaviors were considered. The results show that coagulants PAC-Al-30 exhibit much stronger floc formation capacity, have broader effective dosage range and initial pH range, reach higher HA removal efficiency, and get lower residual aluminum concentration than AICl(3) does. The coagulation/flocculation capacity of PAC-Al-30 increases with the B value. The HA removal reaches 98.5% at an initial pH of 7.0 and PAC-Al-30 (B = 2.4) dosage of 0.16 mmol L-1 (total aluminum concentration, Al-t) when the initial HA concentration is 10 mg L-1; the residual aluminum in the purified water is 0.066 mg L-1. Al-30 is verified as highly efficient coagulation/flocculation species for HA removal. (c) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.