Recognizing excellence in engineering: the Donald L. Katz Award
Created in 1985, the Donald L. Katz Award honors Professor Emeritus Donald L. Katz (1907-1989), an American chemist and chemical engineer at the University of Michigan, renowned for his major contributions to the field of oil and gas engineering and natural gas processing.
This international award recognizes outstanding achievements in research and technology in the midstream sector, or excellence in engineering education. Presented annually at the GPA Midstream convention, the award takes the form of a wall plaque engraved with the image of Donald L. Katz. The GPA Midstream association, which organizes the event, aims to represent the natural gas processing sector in terms of industrial, technical, and scientific aspects.
International scientific recognition for Christophe Coquelet, professor at the RAPSODEE UMR CNRS 5302 Center
Christophe Coquelet, professor at the RAPSODEE UMR CNRS 5302 Center at IMT Mines Albi, has received the prestigious Donald L. Katz Award 2025. The award was presented to him on September 22, during the GPA Midstream annual conference held in San Antonio (September 21-24).
He is the second French researcher to receive this award, after Dominique Richon in 2001, professor at Mines ParisTech and former thesis supervisor of Christophe Coquelet, who in 2003 defended his thesis on the thermodynamic aspects of working fluids for refrigeration and heat pump applications.
A recognized specialist in process engineering, Christophe Coquelet has been a full professor at IMT Mines Albi since 2021, leader of the IMT renewable energy and resources (ENR2) scientific community, and deputy director of the RAPSODEE research group since January 2025. Previously, he headed the Center for Process Thermodynamics at Mines Paris – PSL for more than a decade (2009-2021). An engineer from ENSIACET and associate professor of physics (ENS Cachan, 1998-2001), he obtained his doctorate from Mines Paris University PSL in 2003, then his HDR in 2008 from Paris XIII University. Between 2008 and 2012, he was also an honorary professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
His research focuses on process engineering and more specifically on the thermodynamics of fluids and systems (modeling and experimentation, phase diagrams, and determination of thermophysical properties).
Christophe Coquelet
Professor at the RAPSODEE Center UMR CNRS 5302 at IMT Mines Albi
"Receiving an award named after Donald Katz—a pioneer who profoundly influenced our understanding of gas behavior, water content diagrams, gas transportation, and gas processing—is an extremely moving experience. And to see my name added to the list of recipients, which includes giants in the field of thermodynamics applied to oil, gas, and their processing, many of whom I have admired, read, quoted (copiously!), and even had the chance to meet... it's overwhelming. Truly."
Christophe Coquelet: a distinguished career in fluid thermodynamics and process engineering
A recognized specialist in fluid thermodynamics and process engineering, Christophe Coquelet has devoted his research, since his thesis on working fluids, to the development of advanced models to represent experimental data and predict phase equilibria and other thermodynamic properties in collaboration with industrial partners. His work combines experimental measurements—with the design of specific equipment—molecular simulations (Monte Carlo, DFT), and theoretical approaches. Among his major contributions are improved predictions of densities near the critical point, a new equation of state for refrigerant mixtures and hydrogen, advances in phase diagrams incorporating solid phases, the development of a new alpha function, the generalization of Wong-Sandler mixing rules, as well as the PR-CPA predictive equation of state and the optimization of COSMO models for activity coefficients.
His research has applications in many industrial fields: natural gas processing, supercritical fluids, air separation, oil and gas engineering (particularly acid gas removal), CO₂ capture, transport, storage, and utilization, energy efficiency, refrigeration, heat pumps, and waste heat recovery. It also extends to green chemistry and solvent design, hydrogen (refueling stations and underground storage), hydrometallurgy (leaching), supercritical fluid extraction processes, and waste recycling.
Since 2019, Christophe Coquelet has been collaborating with GE Vernova and Chimie ParisTech on the development of alternative insulating gases to SF₆. In 2021, his research expanded to include the production of green ammonia (processes, catalytic reactor) and direct CO₂ capture from the air. A professor committed to training and mentoring, he has supervised more than 30 theses at Mines Paris and IMT Mines Albi, with several international co-supervisors (in collaboration with Heriot-Watt University, DTU, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal). Since 2019, he has been teaching the fluid thermodynamics course in the Energy program at SPEIT (ParisTech-Shanghai Jiao Tong University). He has been a member of the Scientific Council of IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN) since 2022 and is also a member of the French Society of Process Engineering (SFGP).
His responsibilities increased in 2024 with his appointment as co-head of the IMT scientific community dedicated to renewable energies and resources, which brings together the five French Écoles des Mines of the IMT. That same year, he became coordinator of an Institut Carnot Mines project on “aircraft of the future,” covering the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), the optimization of airport supply chains, energy efficiency, and the use of lightweight composite materials. He had already represented Mines Paris PSL in 2021 within the French ECCSEL network on CCUS.
With extensive experience in industrial partnerships—with Total Energies, Air Liquide, Arkema, Solvay, EDF, GE Vernova, and ENGIE (Storengy)—he has led numerous research contracts. Author or co-author of more than 250 scientific publications and papers, he has also contributed to eight book chapters and co-created a MOOC on experimental thermodynamics.
Christophe COQUELET's scientific CV is available here
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