A surfactant assisted extraction (SAE) method was developed to extract incidental nanoparticles (INPs) in the <300 nm particle size fraction from road runoff sediments and applied to a road runoff sediment. The method was evaluated by spiking experiments of road runoff sediment with engineered nanoparticle (ENP) suspensions of gold (Au-ENPs) between 30 nm and 200 nm and platinum (Pt-ENPs) between 30 nm and 70 nm with content ranging from 40 to 800 ng/g. Suspensions were analyzed by single particle (sp-)ICP-MS. In the presence of a road runoff matrix, an increase in ENP sizes by a maximum of 8% for Au-ENPs and 9% for Pt-ENPs was observed. ENPs mass recovery was >50% for all Au-ENPs with content higher than 200 ng/g and for 30 and 50 nm Pt-ENPs at content of 160 ng/g while for lower content the recovery was 0%. For 70 nm Pt-ENPs, recovery was always >80% and increased with increasing Pt content up to 100% in the presence of road runoff matrix.

Metal content of INPs in the road runoff sediment in the fraction <300 nm decreased from copper (Cu; μg/g)> zinc (Zn)> zirconium (Zr)> cerium (Ce)> lead (Pb)> cadmium (Cd) > platinum (Pt; μg/g). Over 90% of Pt-, Zn-, Cd-, Pb- and Ce-INPs are composed of particles with less than 20 fg, while Zr- and Cu-INPs are dominated by masses higher than 20 fg. The tested SAE may be applicable to determine environmental contents of INPs in sediments and possibly in soils.