Prof. Jeremy Guest
Levenick Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Jeremy Guest is the Levenick Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (by courtesy) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The core goal of Professor Guest’s group is to advance the circular bioeconomy to achieve equitable, healthy, and prosperous communities while simultaneously enhancing the ecosystems that support them. His group makes progress toward this goal on two fronts: (i) increasing access to and the sustainability of sanitation in both developing and technologically advanced communities, which they pursue by developing technologies and service delivery models that manage sanitation media (i.e., human bodily excreta) as a renewable resource; and (ii) expediting the research, development, and deployment (RD&D) of technologies that advance the sustainability of agriculture and the conversion of plants to bioproducts, biofuels, and nutritious foods. Central to their work is Quantitative Sustainable Design (QSD), a structured methodology to inform engineering, investment, and policy decision-making.
Professor Guest currently serves as the Associate Director for Research for the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at UIUC, and as the Sustainable Design Lead for the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (a $262.5M center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, DOE). From 2021-2023, Professor Guest also served as the Illinois Thrust Lead for Sustainability for the IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute (a $200M venture launched in 2021). He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, the 2016 recipient of the Paul L. Busch Award for innovation in applied water quality research from the Water Research Foundation, and the 2021 James J. Morgan Environmental Science & Technology Early Career Award for creativity and leadership in his field. His research has been sponsored by a number of agencies including the NSF, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. DOE, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Professor Guest’s formal training includes a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from Bucknell University and Virginia Tech, respectively, and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Michigan.
Research Interests
Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery [microalgae for wastewater treatment & renewable feedstock production; non-sewered sanitation (NSS) technologies & service delivery models; underserved communities; international development engineering] Sustainable Design [open-source tools for life cycle assessment (LCA) & techno-economic analysis (TEA); quantitative sustainable design (QSD); prioritization of research, development, & deployment (RD&D) pathways for emerging technologies] Circular Bioeconomy [nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus) & energy recovery from human bodily waste; bioprocess engineering for the conversion of plants to biofuels & bioproducts; biorefinery design]
Research Areas
Energy-Water-Environment Sustainability Environmental Engineering and Science Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems
Publications
Selected Journals
- Gincley, B.; Khan, F.; Alam, M.M.; Hartnett, E.; Kim, G.Y.; Fisher, A.; Bradley, I.M.; Guest, J.S.; Pinto, A.J. Morphotype-resolved characterization of microalgal communities in a nutrient recovery process with ARTiMiS flow imaging microscopy. Water Research. 2025, 283: 123801. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.123801
- Muller, I.E.; Lin, A.Y.W.; Otani, Y.; Zhang, X.; Wu, Z.Y.; Kisailus, D.; Mouncey, N.J.; Guest, J.S.; Rad, B.; Ercius, P.; Yoshikuni, Y. Cost-effective urine recycling enabled by a synthetic osteoyeast platform for production of hydroxyapatite. Nature Communications. 2025, 16(1): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59416-8
- Kim, M.S.; Bhagwat, S.S.; Santiago-Martinez, L.; Shi, X.; Choi, K.; Guest, J.S.; Huber, G.W. Sustainable potassium sorbate production from triacetic acid lactone in food-grade solvents. Green Chemistry. 2025, 27: 6087-6104. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4GC04832F
- Jia, Y.; Maitra, S.; Kudli, L.; Guest, J.S.; Singh, V. Economic and environmental sustainability of bio-based HMF production and recovery from lignocellulosic biomass. Green Chemistry. 2024, 26: 11340-11350. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4GC04270K
- Zhang, X.; Arnold, W.A.; Wright, N.; Novak, P.J.; Guest, J.S. Prioritization of early-stage research and development of a hydrogel-encapsulated anaerobic technology for distributed treatment of high strength organic wastewater. Environmental Science & Technology. 2024, 58(44): 19651-19665. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c05389
- Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Woodruff, W.; Banerjee, S.; Li, Y.; Singh, V.; Rao, C.V.; Guest, J.S. Integration of plant and microbial oil processing at oilcane biorefineries for more sustainable biofuel production. GCB Bioenergy. 2024, 16(11): e13183. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.13183
- Fan, X.; Khanna, M.; Lee, Y-.Y.; Kent, J.; Shi, R.; Guest, J.S.; Lee, D.K. Spatially varying costs of GHG abatement with alternative cellulosic feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuels. Environmental Science & Technology. 2024, 58(26): 11352-11362. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c01949
- Molitor, H.R.; Kim, G.Y.; Hartnett, E.; Gincley, B.; Alam, M.; Feng, J.; Avila, N.M.; Fisher, A.; Hodaei, M.; Li, Y.; McGraw, K.; Cusick, R.D.; Bradley, I.M.; Pinto, A.J.; Guest, J.S. Intensive microalgal cultivation and tertiary phosphorus recovery from wastewaters via the EcoRecover process. Environmental Science & Technology. 2024, 58(20): 8803-8814. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c10264
- Feng, J.; Li, Y.; Strathmann, T.J.; Guest, J.S. Characterizing the opportunity space for sustainable hydrothermal valorization of wet organic wastes. Environmental Science & Technology. 2024, 58(5): 2528-2541. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c07394
- Tran, V.G.; Mishra, S.; Bhagwat, S.S.; Shafaei, S.; Shen, Y.; Allen, J.L.; Crosly, B.A.; Tan, S-.I.; Fatma, Z.; Rabinowitz, J.; Guest, J.S.; Singh, V.; Zhao, H. An end-to-end pipeline for succinic acid production at an industrially relevant scale using Issatchenkia orientalis. Nature Communications. 2023, 14(1): 6152. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41616-9
- McKenna, P.; Zakaria, F.; Guest, J.S.; Evans, B.; Banwart, S. Will the circle be unbroken? The climate mitigation and sustainable development given by a circular economy of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and water. RSC Sustainability. 2023, 1: 960-974. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2SU00121G
- Watabe, S.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Li, Y.; Morgan, V.L.; Rowles, L.S.; Stephen, T.; Shyu, H.Y.; Bair, R.A.; Castro, C.J.; Cusick, R.D.; Yeh, D.H.; Guest, J.S. Advancing the economic and environmental sustainability of the NEWgeneratorTM non-sewered sanitation system. ACS Environmental Au. 2023, 3(4): 209-222. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.3c00001
- Lohman, H.A.C.; Morgan, V.L.; Li, Y.; Zhang, X.; Rowles, L.S.; Cook, S.M.; Guest, J.S. DMsan: A multi-criteria decision analysis framework and package to characterize contextualized sustainability of sanitation and resource recovery technologies. ACS Environmental Au. 2023, 3(3): 179-192. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.2c00067
- Li, Y.; Kontos, G.A.; Cabrera, D.V.; Avila, N.M.; Parkinson, T.; Viswanathan, M.B.; Singh, V.; Altpeter, F.; Labatut, R.; Guest, J.S. Design of a high-rate wastewater treatment process for energy and water recovery at biorefineries. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2023, 11(9): 3861-3872. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c07139
- Stewart, D.W.; Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Li, Y.; Stillwell, A.S.; Khanna, M.; Guest, J.S. Implications of biorefinery policy incentives and location-specific economic parameters for the financial viability of biofuels. Environmental Science & Technology. 2023, 57(6): 2262-2271. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c07936
- Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Kurambhatti, C.; Eilts, K.; Singh, V.; Guest, J.S. Economic and environmental sustainability of vegetative oil extraction strategies at integrated oilcane and oil-sorghum biorefineries. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2022, 10(42): 13980-13990. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c04204
- Li, Y.; Trimmer, J.T.; Hand, S.; Zhang, X.; Chambers, K.G.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Shi, R.; Byrne, D.M.; Cook, S.M.; Guest, J.S. Quantitative sustainable design (QSD) for the prioritization of research, development, and deployment of technologies: A tutorial and review. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. 2022, 8: 2439-2465. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00431C
- Li, Y.; Zhang, X.; Morgan, V.L.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Rowles, L.S.; Mittal, S.; Kogler, A.; Cusick, R.D.; Tarpeh, W.A.; Guest, J.S. QSDsan: An integrated platform for quantitative sustainable design of sanitation and resource recovery systems. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. 2022, 8: 2289-2303. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00455K
- Rowles, L.S.; Morgan, V.L.; Li, Y.; Zhang, X.; Watabe, S.; Stephen, T.; Lohman, H.A.C.; DeSouza, D.; Hallowell, J.; Cusick, R.D.; Guest, J.S. Financial viability and environmental sustainability of fecal sludge management with pyrolysis Omni Processors. ACS Environmental Au. 2022, 2(5): 455-466. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.2c00022
- Bhagwat, S.S.; Li, Y.; Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Brace, E.C.; Martin, T.A.; Zhao, H.; Guest, J.S. Sustainable production of acrylic acid via 3-hydroxypropionic acid from lignocellulosic biomass. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2021, 9(49): 16659-16669. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c05441
- Bradley, I.M.; Li, Y.; Guest, J.S. Solids residence time impacts carbon dynamics and bioenergy feedstock potential in phototrophic wastewater treatment systems. Environmental Science & Technology. 2021, 55(18): 12574-12584. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c02590
- Echevarria, D.; Trimmer, J.T.; Cusick, R.D.; Guest, J.S. Defining nutrient colocation typologies for human-derived supply and crop demand to advance resource recovery. Environmental Science & Technology. 2021, 55(15): 10704-10713. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c01389
- McClelland, D.J.; Wang, B.X.; Cordell, W.; Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Gilcher, E.B.; Zhang, L.; Guest, J.S.; Pfleger, B.F.; Huber, G.; Dumesic, J.A. Renewable linear alpha-olefins by base-catalyzed dehydration of biologically-derived fatty alcohols. Green Chemistry. 2021, 23: 4338-4354. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1GC00243K
- Byrne, D.M.; Hamilton, K.; Houser, S.A.; Mubasira, M.; Katende, D.; Lohman, H.A.C.; Trimmer, J.T.; Banadda, N.; Zerai, A.; Guest, J.S. Navigating data uncertainty and modeling assumptions in quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to support decision-making in an informal settlement. Environmental Science & Technology. 2021, 55(8): 5463-5474. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05693
- Li, Y.; Bhagwat, S.S.; Cortes-Pena, Y.R.; Ki, D.; Rao, C.V.; Jin, Y.-S.; Guest, J.S. Sustainable lactic acid production from lignocellulosic biomass. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2021, 9(3): 1341-1351. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c08055
