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The adsorption process for low concentration phosphorus wastewater treatment has advantages of simple convenience, stable performance and less sludge, while most of current adsorbents fail to be separated for reuse. Meanwhile, few people pay attention to the removal of low concentration phosphorus from tail water by adsorbents. In this study, a newly efficient Fe–Mg–Zr layered double hydroxide beads were prepared by simple in-situ crosslinking method and applied for low concentration phosphorus adsorption from real tail water. The maximum adsorption capacity of Fe–Mg–Zr beads was 21.61 mg/g, showing more practical application value for phosphorus removal. Fixed bed experiments showed that 5.0 g adsorbent could removed 2.12 mg phosphorus from tail wastewater containing 1.03 mg/L phosphorus. The beads adsorbent can be reused with excellent adsorption performance even after five cycles of adsorption-desorption operation. After detailed analyses, it was found that ligand exchange and ion exchange were the dominant mechanisms for phosphorus adsorption by this beads. Overall, the material has the advantages of simple preparation, good adsorption performance, easy separation and recycle, indicating a great potential for low concentration phosphorus wastewater treatment. [Display omitted] • Fe–Mg–Zr layered hydroxide beads was prepared for efficient low P adsorption. • The beads could be easily separated and reused for real low P wastewater. • P removal mechanisms by the beads were ligand exchange and ion exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]