John W. Scott is Illinois State Pollution Prevention Scientist housed at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), where he has worked since 2001. He specializes in analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry, with extensive experience developing and applying methods for the characterization of complex environmental, biological, and industrial samples.

His expertise includes liquid and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS and GC-MS), high-resolution mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, spectroscopy, and a broad range of sample preparation and purification techniques. He also has extensive experience troubleshooting, maintaining, and optimizing sophisticated analytical instrumentation and developing methods for challenging or unconventional sample matrices.

Scott collaborates with researchers across a wide range of interdisciplinary projects, providing analytical expertise from experimental design and method development through data interpretation. His research interests include emerging contaminants such as PFAS, microplastics and plastic-associated chemicals, environmental fate and transport, waste-to-energy and resource recovery, thermochemical conversion processes, and pollution prevention.

Pollution prevention and sustainable materials management are important components of his work. He applies analytical chemistry to identify and characterize contaminants and waste streams, investigate their sources and environmental impacts, and evaluate opportunities to reduce or eliminate hazardous substances before they enter the environment. His work also supports the assessment of alternative materials and processes, beneficial reuse and resource recovery strategies, and technologies designed to minimize waste, emissions, and environmental releases. By providing rigorous chemical characterization and analytical measurements, he helps researchers, industries, and other stakeholders evaluate the effectiveness and environmental performance of pollution prevention and sustainability strategies.

Throughout his career at ISTC, Scott has contributed to research spanning environmental contaminants, water quality, industrial and agricultural waste streams, biofuels and bioproducts, natural products, waste utilization, and sustainable technologies. His work combines advanced analytical instrumentation with practical problem-solving to better understand complex chemical systems, prevent pollution at its source, recover value from materials traditionally considered waste, and support the development of technologies and practices that protect human health and the environment.

Illinois Experts Profile

• B.S. Chemistry / B.S. Environmental Health, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 2000
• A.S. (Pre-Pharmacy), College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL, 1998

• Quality Control Technician, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago

• Pollution Prevention
• Emerging Contaminants
• Water Quality
• Bio-Fuels
• Bio-Products
• Natural Products

• Zhou, Hongxu, Shuai Tang, Haribansha Timalsina, Audrey Frost, Wei Zheng, Sophie Circenis, John W. Scott, Peng Chen, Buchun Si, and Rabin Bhattarai. "Treatment Trains vs. Single-stage Systems: Nutrient removal and economic tradeoffs of biochar-enhanced woodchip bioreactor systems." Journal of Cleaner Production 571 (2026): 148857.

• Kim, Saint Moon, Yoonjoo Seo, Renjing Jiang, Linrui Tan, Linduo Zhao, John W. Scott, Yong-Su Jin, and Na Wei. "Engineered microbial catalyst for simultaneous depolymerization and upcycling of polycaprolactone." Green Chemistry 28, no. 17 (2026): 7411-7424.

• Turner, Andrew, John W. Scott, and Maya C. Dabrowski. "Aluminium, copper, nickel, lead and zinc in e-liquids from contemporary disposable vapes." Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 198, no. 4 (2026): 344.

• Salih, Hafiz HM, Erin Huggett, Craig Patterson, John Scott, Rendahandi Gune Silva, Tae Lee, Thomas F. Speth, and Mallikarjuna N. Nadagouda. "Treatment of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-contaminated hypersaline brine by membrane distillation." ACS Environmental Au 6, no. 1 (2026): 66-73.

• Velasquez, Paris M., Lee Green, John Scott, and Alan D. Steinman. "Characterization of Microplastics and 6-PPD Quinone in a Suburban Lake–Tributary System Impacted by Highway Runoff." Microplastics 4, no. 4 (2025): 91.

• Prada, Andres F., Jaemin Kim, Linduo Zhao, Fangyu Li, Lee Green, and John W. Scott. "Using piezoelectric mechanochemistry for solvent-free, nonthermal defluorination of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contained in carbon-based sorbents." RSC Mechanochemistry 3, no. 1 (2026): 92-99.

• Zhao, Linduo, Clint M. Arnett, Veronica I. Casey, John W. Scott, Mark A. Davis, Gwenna Heidkamp, and Rebekah C. Wilson. "Profiling Specific Volatile Organic Compounds for Mold Detection and Species Identification." Indoor Air 2025, no. 1 (2025): 9350601.

• Kumar, Vikram, John W. Scott, Linduo Zhao, Margarita F. Bargon, Aniruddha Baral, Jeffery R. Roesler, Brajendra K. Sharma, and Nishant Garg. "Enhancing the Quantification of Critical Elements in WTE and Coal Ash via Alkaline Fusion: Superiority of Lithium Metaborate (LiBO2)." Energy & Fuels 39, no. 34 (2025): 16343-16355.

• Nath, Jayashree, Goutam Banerjee, Jayita De, Noella Dsouza, Shantanu Sur, John W. Scott, and Pratik Banerjee. "Nanoplastics-mediated physiologic and genomic responses in pathogenic Escherichia coli O157: H7." Journal of Nanobiotechnology 23, no. 1 (2025): 304.

• Turner, Andrew, John W. Scott, Thomas Backshall-Kennedy, and Maya C. Dabrowski. "Deconstructing contemporary disposable vapes: A material and elemental analysis." Science of The Total Environment 954 (2024): 176292.

• Prada, Andres F., John W. Scott, Lee Green, and Timothy Hoellein. "Microplastics and per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in landfill-wastewater treatment systems: A field study." Science of The Total Environment (2024): 176751.

• Park, Jung Hyun, John W. Scott, Hong Lu, Nandakishore Rajagopalan, Brajendra K. Sharma, Stephen D. Cosper, K. James Hay, and Jaemin Kim. "Highly efficient and reusable nanostructured porous Ni/La2O2CO3 tandem catalyst for hydrogen and methane production from subcritical hydrothermal treatment of nitrocellulose." Chemical Engineering Journal (2024): 150330.

• Ccanccapa-Cartagena, Alexander, Wei Zheng, Sophie Circenis, Sarmila Katuwal, and John W. Scott. "Influence of biosolids and sewage effluent application on sitagliptin soil sorption." Science of The Total Environment (2023): 165080.

• Filella, Montserrat, Andrew Turner, and John Scott. "Plastics in the environment: Understanding impacts and identifying solutions, volume II." Frontiers in Environmental Science 10 (2022): 1040756.

• Scott, John W., Andrew Turner, Andres F. Prada, and Linduo Zhao. "Heterogeneous weathering of polypropylene in the marine environment." Sci Total Environ (2021): 152308.

• Turner, Andrew, John W. Scott, and Lee A. Green. "Rare earth elements in plastics." Science of The Total Environment 774 (2021): 145405.

• Scott, John W., Kathryn G. Gunderson, Lee A. Green, Richard R. Rediske, and Alan D. Steinman. "Perfluoroalkylated Substances (PFAS) Associated with Microplastics in a Lake Environment." Toxics 9, no. 5 (2021): 106.

• Kelly, John J., Maxwell G. London, Amanda R. McCormick, Miguel Rojas, John W. Scott, and Timothy J. Hoellein. "Wastewater treatment alters microbial colonization of microplastics." Plos one 16, no. 1 (2021): e0244443.

• Steinman, Alan D., John Scott, Lee Green, Charlyn Partridge, Maggie Oudsema, Michael Hassett, Emily Kindervater, and Richard R. Rediske. "Persistent organic pollutants, metals, and the bacterial community composition associated with microplastics in Muskegon Lake (MI)." J Great Lakes Res 46, no. 5 (2020): 1444-1458.

• Lenaker, Peter L., Austin K. Baldwin, Steven R. Corsi, Sherri A. Mason, Paul C. Reneau, and John W. Scott (2019) "Vertical Distribution of Microplastics in the Water Column and Surficial Sediment from the Milwaukee River Basin to Lake Michigan." Environ Sci Tech 53(21) 12227-12237.

• Panno, Samuel V., Walton R. Kelly, John Scott, Wei Zheng, Rachel E. McNeish, Nancy Holm, Timothy J. Hoellein, and Elizabeth L. Baranski. "Microplastic contamination in karst groundwater systems." Groundwater 57, no. 2 (2019): 189-196.

• Shin, Young Hwan, Lance Schideman, Michael J. Plewa, Peng Zhang, John Scott, and Yuanhui Zhang. "Fate and transport of estrogenic compounds in an integrated swine manure treatment systems combining algal-bacterial bioreactor and hydrothermal processes for improved water quality." Environmental Science and Pollution Research 26, no. 16 (2019): 16800-16813.

• Adkesson, Michael J., Jeffrey M. Levengood, John W. Scott, David J. Schaeffer, Brent Panno, Jennifer N. Langan, Susana Cárdenas-Alayza, and Sandra James-Yi. "Analysis of toxic and essential elements in the blood and feathers of humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) at Punta San Juan, Peru." Journal of wildlife diseases 55, no. 2 (2019): 438-443.

• Zhang, Xuesong, John Scott, Brajendra K. Sharma, and Nandakishore Rajagopalan. "Advanced treatment of hydrothermal liquefaction wastewater with nanofiltration to recover carboxylic acids." Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 4, no. 4 (2018): 520-528.

• Adkesson, Michael J., Jeffrey M. Levengood, John W. Scott, David J. Schaeffer, Jennifer N. Langan, Susana Cárdenas-Alayza, Santiago De La Puente, Patricia Majluf, and Sandra Yi. "Assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the blood of Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) from the Punta San Juan Marine Protected Area, Peru." Journal of wildlife Diseases 54, no. 2 (2018): 304-314.

• Shin, Young Hwan, Lance Schideman, Peng Zhang, John Scott, Michael Plewa, and Yuanhui Zhang. "Hydrothermal processes for simultaneous bioenergy recovery and destruction of bioactive microconstituents from biosolids." Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation 2017, no. 1 (2017): 329-359.

• Larson, Richard A., Brajendra K. Sharma, Karen A. Marley, Bidhya Kunwar, Dheeptha Murali, and John Scott. "Potential antioxidants for biodiesel from a softwood lignin pyrolyzate." Industrial Crops and Products 109 (2017): 476-482.

• Hoellein, T.J., McCormick, A.R., Hittie, J., London, M.G., Scott, J.W. and Kelly, J.J., 2017. Longitudinal patterns of microplastic concentration and bacterial assemblages in surface and benthic habitats of an urban river. Freshwater Science, 36(3), pp.000-000.

• Daza, Enrique A., Santosh K. Misra, John Scott, Indu Tripathi, Christine Promisel, Brajendra K. Sharma, Jacek Topczewski, Santanu Chaudhuri, and Dipanjan Pan. "Multi-Shell Nano-CarboScavengers for Petroleum Spill Remediation." Scientific Reports 7 (2017).

• McCormick, Amanda R., Timothy J. Hoellein, Maxwell G. London, Joshua Hittie, John W. Scott, and John J. Kelly. "Microplastic in surface waters of urban rivers: concentration, sources, and associated bacterial assemblages." Ecosphere7, no. 11 
  1. (2016).

• Richard L. Fishel, John W. Scott, Kristin M. Hedman, and Trudi E. Butler. Chemical Analyses of the Ingredients of an 1850s Thomson’s Compound Syrup of Tar Patent Medicine Bottle. Technical Briefs in Historical Archaeology 10 (2016): 9-20.

• Levengood, Jeffrey M., Edward J. Heske, Patrick M. Wilkins, and John W. Scott. 2015. "Polyaromatic hydrocarbons and elements in sediments associated with a suburban railway." Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 187, no. 8: 1-12.

• Allender, Matthew C., Michael J. Dreslik, Bishap Patel, Elizabeth L. Luber, John Byrd, Christopher A. Phillips, and John W. Scott. 2015. "Select metal and metalloid surveillance of free-ranging Eastern box turtles from Illinois and Tennessee (Terrapene carolina carolina)." Ecotoxicology: 1-10.

• Mukherjee, Prabuddha, Santosh K. Misra, Mark C. Gryka, Huei‐Huei Chang, Saumya Tiwari, William L. Wilson, John W. Scott, Rohit Bhargava, and Dipanjan Pan. 2015. "Carbon nanospheres: tunable luminescent carbon nanospheres with well‐defined nanoscale chemistry for synchronized imaging and therapy (Small 36/2015)." Small 11, no. 36: 4796-4796.

• Drury, Bradley, John Scott, Emma J. Rosi-Marshall, and John J. Kelly. 2013. "Triclosan exposure increases triclosan resistance and influences taxonomic composition of benthic bacterial communities." Environmental Science & Technology 47 (15): pp 8923-8930.

• Pham, Mai, Lance Schideman, John Scott, Nandakishore Rajagopalan, and Michael J. Plewa. 2013. "Chemical and biological characterization of wastewater generated from hydrothermal liquefaction of Spirulina." Environmental Science & Technology 47 (4): 213 l-2138.

• Mensching, Donna A., Margaret Slater, John W. Scott, Duncan C. Ferguson, and Val R. Beasley. "The feline thyroid gland: a model for endocrine disruption by polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)?." Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A 75, no. 4 (2012): 201-212.

• Derek R Vardon , B.K. Sharma, John Scott, Guo Yu, Zhichao Wang, Lance Schideman , Yuanhui Zhang , Timothy J. Strathmann. 2011. “Chemical properties of biocrude oil from the hydrothermal liquefaction of Spirulina algae, swine manure, and digested anaerobic sludge”. Bioresource Technology 102: 8295–8303.

• Stone ME, Scott JW, Schultz ST, Berry DL, Wilcoxon M, Piwoni M, Panno B, Bordson G (2009). “Comparison of chlorine and chloramine in the release of mercury from dental amalgam.” Science of the Total Environment 407: 770-775

• Jeffrey M. Levengood, Luann Wiedenmann, Thomas W. Custer, David J. Schaeffer, Cole W. Matson, Mark J. Melancon, David J. Hoffman, John W. Scott, Jonathan L. Talbott, Gary O. Bordson, John W. Bickham, Barnett A. Rattner, and Nancy H. Golden (2007) “Contaminant Exposure and Biomarker Response in Embryos of Black-crowned Night-herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) Nesting near Lake Calumet, Illinois”. Journal Great Lakes Research 33: 791-805.

• De Mello, Jaime WV, Jonathan L. Talbott, John Scott, William R. Roy, and Joseph W. Stucki. "Arsenic speciation in arsenic-rich Brazilian soils from gold mining sites under anaerobic incubation." Environmental Science and Pollution Research-International 14 (2007): 388-396.

• Stone, Mark E., John C. Kuehne, Mark E. Cohen, Jonathan L. Talbott, and John W. Scott. "Effect of iodine on mercury concentrations in dental-unit wastewater." Dental Materials 22, no. 2 (2006): 119-124.