The difficulty of pollution management in navigable waters restricts the green development of water transport traffic，and sediment is an important factor affecting the phosphorus load of navigable waters.This paper analyses the isothermal phosphorus adsorption characteristics of channel sediment through sediment adsorption indoor tests and field tests，proposes acidic activation and calcareous activation methods，compares the phosphorus adsorption characteristics and differential kinetic processes of activated sediment，and demonstrates and explores the applicability of the activated phosphorus removal method for polluted sediment.The results show that the particle size and content of the channel sediment are important factors affecting the equilibrium phosphorus adsorption，and that reducing the particle size or content of the sediment can increase the equilibrium phosphorus adsorption up to 0.944 mg/g.The isothermal adsorption and kinetic adsorption analysis show that the phosphorus adsorption by acidic activated sediment is mainly physical adsorption，while the phosphorus adsorption by calcareous activated sediment is mainly chemical adsorption.The maximum phosphorus saturation adsorption by calcareous activated sediment is up to 16.5 mg/g.The maximum phosphorus saturation adsorption capacity can reach 16.50 mg/g，which is 8.1 and 17.5 times higher than that of acid-activated sediment and natural sediment respectively under the same sediment content.Sediment activation can enhance the performance of natural sediment in phosphorus adsorption，which can provide basic research support for water quality improvement and pollution control in navigable waters as a potential method for phosphorus removal in water bodies.