Recycling alum flocs may promote the removal of NOM during coagulation process.
The BET and Freundlich models indicated the adsorption of HA onto AHF was a multilayer adsorption.
The charge neutralization was not the dominant coagulation mechanism for HA removal by AHF.
AHF+PACl demonstrated a lower release of organic matter after breakage.
The hydrogen bonding of AHF is the main mechanism for removal of HA.