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Adsorption behaviours of humic acid on three natural clays from Ivory Coast were studied. In order to investigate the adsorption mechanism, characterization of clays and the humic acid–clay complex was conducted by using various analytical methods (attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), specific surface area analysis (BET) and chemical composition). As a result, adsorption process showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of humic acid was achieved at pH = 3 and was found to be to 115 mg/g obtained for the best sample. For all clays, the adsorption was found to be strongly dependent on pH and well fitted by the Langmuir model. In addition, it was shown that the adsorption capacity was linked to the kaolinite content of each sample. The results showed that humic acid adsorption onto clay was made via electrostatic interactions, ligand exchange and hydrophobic interactions. This study showed that clays are valuable adsorbents for the removal of humic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]