Systems for nanoplastics detection and method of using the same

1 . A method of detecting nanoplastics in water, the method comprising:

providing a 0.45 μm syringe and a 0.45 μm syringe filter,

collecting a water sample from the water, wherein the water is wastewater,

filtering the water sample with the 0.45 μm syringe and the 0.45 μm syringe filter to remove debris from the water sample to form a filtered water sample,

adding a lipophilic fluorescent dye to the filtered water sample to form a mixture,

incubating the mixture for an incubation time period at a predetermined temperature, wherein the incubation time period is less than 20 minutes, and

measuring a nanoplastics concentration in the mixture using a measurement device at a predetermined wavelength.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the lipophilic fluorescent dye comprises Nile Red dye.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture comprises about 20% methanol concentration.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the incubation time period is about 10 minutes.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined wavelength is about 450 nanometers.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mixture is not agitated.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined temperature is room temperature.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the 0.45 μm syringe filter comprises hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) fluorophore.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a plurality of Eppendorf tubes.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising providing a plurality of 1 mL tuberculin syringes.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising positioning the mixture on an orbital shaker and agitating the mixture with the orbital shaker.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising powering the measurement device with a 5V DC power adaptor or a plurality of batteries.