The League of Young Professionals has given its response to current technological challenges

The qualifying stage of the League of Young Specialists was held on the basis of Kuzbass State Technical University The International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN". This is an annual event in which employees of fuel and energy and mineral resources complexes under the age of 35 compete in solving engineering cases - practical tasks based on real production situations.

The Championship is the successor of the All-Russian Mining Case Solving Championship and the All-Russian Fuel and Energy Case Solving Championship. Its main goal is to ensure the professional and personal development of young representatives of engineering professions. The championship allows you to evaluate the professional knowledge of employees and their leadership qualities, as well as find ways to solve problems that are currently most relevant in a particular field of activity.

11 teams took part in the competition. Among them are representatives of one of the largest energy companies JSC SUEK-Kuzbass, the petrochemical enterprise LLC Tomskneftekhim, the coal company PJSC Yuzhny Kuzbass, the scientific and technical center LLC Gazpromneft STC. The following people also took part in the competition:: Novosibirsk branch of the Siberian Generating Company, the enterprise for the extraction of high-quality energy and coking coal JSC "Chernihiv", JSC Management Company "Kuzbassrazrezugol" and the energy supply company PJSC "Rosseti Siberia". For the first time, representatives of one of the largest chemical industry enterprises in Russia, employees of PJSC Azot, took part in the League.

"It is symbolic that the League of Young Specialists is held on the basis of Kuzbass State Technical University, because Kuzbass Polytechnic is the main forge of engineering personnel in the region. The theme that united all the participants of the championship is technological leadership. Undoubtedly, this is an area in which you need to develop! I would like to note that it is thanks to the ideas that are born in the bright minds of young professionals that our great technological future is being built. I am sure that the ideas, the viability of which will be proven today, we will be able to translate into real life by combining the scientific potential of the university and the forces of existing specialists.", Kirill Kostikov, Vice Rector for Research and International Cooperation at KuzSTU, said at the opening of the championship.

"Managing the technological future" was the theme of the engineering case this year. The participants were engaged in identifying the technological challenges facing the industry today, as well as analyzing breakthrough technologies that can shape the future of carbon-neutral energy worldwide and ensure resource-efficient energy consumption.

The evaluation of the participants' decisions was carried out by an expert commission headed by Roman Belyaevsky, Deputy Director of the Institute of Energy for Scientific and Innovative Work at KuzSTU. It is noteworthy that among the jury members there were specialists who had once participated in the championship themselves. For example, Ivan Kravchenko, mining engineer at Yuzhny Kuzbass, and Kirill Kalaev, head of Mining Operations at the SUEK-Kuzbass processing plant, are former participants in the championship.

The performances of the young specialists were also evaluated by Mikhail Zhukov, Chief Expert of the Department of Energy Conservation Innovations of the Department of Technological Development, Innovation, Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency Improvement of the ROSSETI Siberia Executive Office, Denis Fedoseev, Head of the Azot site, Nikolay Sharapov, Director of Development of the Novosibirsk Branch of the Siberian Generating Company, Kuzbassrazrezugol Production Management Engineer Dmitry Yasinsky and Dmitry Fedorov, a leading engineer at Tomskneftekhim. The independent examination was conducted by Anton Korneev, an analyst of the championship, an employee of the research laboratory of digital transformation of enterprises of the KuzSTU mineral resource complex.

Following the results of the defense of engineering cases, the following results were announced:

I place – the Epicenter of Development team (Gazpromneft STC LLC);

II place – the Recycle team (Tomskneftekhim LLC);

III place – the team "League of Outstanding Miners" (JSC "SUEK-Kuzbass").

"The main challenge facing the oil and gas industry today is the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. The consumption of methane as a fuel will decrease every year, but the demand for its processed products will grow. Accordingly, the question has become urgent for us, what strategic steps should be taken to produce these products without emitting greenhouse gases.", – says Dmitry Artyukh, a member of the Epicenter of Development team, a specialist at the Gazpromneft NTC Asset Development Center.

To solve this problem, the winners of the championship proposed processing associated gas into carbon black, which can later be used in the manufacture of rubber products (for example, tires), as well as in paint and varnish products. In addition, when carbon black is produced by pyrolysis, a byproduct is formed – hydrogen, which many scientists today see a great future for. In this regard, the Epicenter of Development team proposed generating electricity for the needs of the same installation, but using hydrogen instead of gas. This will eliminate carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and generate clean energy.

The first and second place teams will take part in the championship finals, which will be held in Moscow at the end of May. 

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