Microplastics Optical Particle Counter Kit with Arduino Mega — Count and Size Pollutants in Water

Every part needed, pre-tested for compatibility, with an AI build companion trained on this exact project. Shipped from Bengaluru in 3-5 days.

Detect and size microplastic particles smaller than 100 µm using a custom-built flow cell, laser, and photodiode. This advanced kit guides you through building an optical particle counter that measures light scattering events and analyzes pulse width to discriminate particle size — a critical tool for environmental monitoring and research.

What You'll Build

You’ll construct a laser-based particle counter with a continuous flow sample cell. As water passes through, suspended microplastics scatter the laser beam; a BPW34 photodiode picks up these pulses, which dual LM358 op-amps amplify and shape. An Arduino Mega 2560 timestamps each event via DS3231 RTC, logs counts and size categories to microSD, and displays real-time data on a 0.96-inch OLED. This standalone instrument lets you quantify microplastic pollution in real water samples from rivers, lakes, or processed wastewater.

What You'll Learn

• Design and calibrate a flow-based optical particle counting system
• Process weak analog signals with multi-stage op-amp circuits (pulse detection and amplification)
• Perform pulse width analysis to classify particles into size bins (e.g., 50–100 µm, 100–500 µm)
• Implement data logging with real-time clock timestamps for long-duration sampling studies

Kit Contents

Why Buy This Kit Instead of Sourcing Parts Separately

Who This Kit Is For

This kit is designed for B.Tech ECE/EEE students working on final-year projects in environmental sensing, participants in Smart India Hackathon tackling water pollution challenges, and research scholars at IITs, NITs, VIT, or BITS looking to prototype low-cost microplastics monitoring. It assumes prior experience with Arduino and basic analog electronics — ideal for ages 18–21 and beyond.

Built and Backed by Compoden

Every Compoden kit ships with an AI build companion trained on this exact project — accessible via a QR code on the box, with WhatsApp and email backup. We've spent 10 years building projects for makers, schools, and institutions across India. If a part fails because of a manufacturing defect, replace it free within 7 days.

Choose your assembly option:

• Soldering Kit — 25W soldering iron, 60/40 solder wire, flux, and small perfboard for permanent assembly.
• Breadboard Combo — 800-point full-size breadboard with 65-piece jumper wire pack for solderless prototyping.