Fly ash is solid waste from combustion process, containing oxide minerals and unburned carbon. In this investigation, fly ash has been separated into metal oxide mineral section and unburned carbon. The fly ash with different contents of unburned carbon was employed for humic acid adsorption to investigate the influence of unburned carbon on adsorption. It is found that metal oxides and unburned carbon in fly ash exhibit significant difference in humic acid adsorption. The unburned carbon plays the major role in adsorption. Higher content of unburned carbon in fly ash results in higher surface area and thus higher humic acid adsorption. Fly ash and unburned carbon exhibit adsorption capacity of humic acid of 11 and 72 mg/g, respectively, at 30 degrees C, pH 7. Humic acid adsorption is also affected by ion strength, pH, and temperature. The thermodynamic calculations indicate that the adsorption is endothermic nature with A Ho and Delta S-0 as 5.79 kJ/mol and 16.0 J/K mol, respectively. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.