The first winners of the qualifying stage of the "CASE-IN" championship were named in IRNTU

The qualifying stages of the XII International Engineering Championship are being held at IRNTU "CASE-IN"in eight areas related to the main objectives of the university's development program (Priority 2030). On March 19, the projects were presented by 27 polytechnic teams working in the interests of ALROSA, United Company RUSAL, and Yakutsk Fuel and Energy Company. Students solved cases in the fields of "Oil and gas business", "Metallurgy", "Geological exploration" and "Mining". 

According to Artem Korolev, the founder of the championship and co-chairman of the CASE-IN organizing committee, the tasks of the XII season are united by the theme of lean manufacturing.: "Today, one of the most urgent areas of economic development is improving efficiency, increasing labor productivity, eliminating losses, and implementing optimal solutions. We are waiting for ideas that our industry partners will be able to take note of and apply in their work."

Mikhail Kornyakov, Rector of IRNTU, and Elena Apanovich, Deputy Minister of Education of the Angara Region, spoke at the opening of the qualifying stage of the championship.

"CASE-IN" traditionally unites the young engineering minds of the region and the country. The directions of the tournament and the geography of participants are expanding, which means that companies see the potential in students who are striving to bring the Russian industry to a qualitatively new level. And where, if not at Irkutsk Polytechnic, can the largest companies find progressive personnel? For the participants, this championship is a lesson in friendship and exchange of experience, acquaintance with senior colleagues, and, importantly, a career elevator," Elena Apanovich emphasized.

In the qualifying stage for metallurgy, the Noble Iridium team was in the lead, receiving gifts from the company, the author of the case and Nina Nemchinova, Head of the Department of Metallurgy of Non-Ferrous Metals. Polytechnic scientists have found the use of coke dust, which is formed during the production of anode pulp for electrolyzers.

"We are well acquainted with the subject of the case thanks to our joint work with Associate Professor Andrey Alexandrovich Tyutrin. At enterprises, only 20% of the coke dust is returned to the technological process, the remaining mass enters the sludge storage facilities. These are high financial costs and environmental risks for RUSAL. That is why we proposed briquetting this type of waste with the addition of binding components. Such a product can be used as a reducing agent in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, as well as as fuel for thermal power plants," said Mikhail Vasiliev, a participant in Noble Iridium.

GeoCase became the best team in the field of Geological Exploration. According to team member Alexey Savkiv, the students were faced with the task of improving the efficiency of diamond prospecting: "We proposed replacing the classic ground-based methods of geophysical surveying with UAV technologies in which devices are mounted on copters. This will reduce errors and speed up exploration."

Denis Koshkarev, Head of the Forecast Department of the ALROSA Mineral Resource Base Management, congratulated the students, noting that the company has been the author of exploration cases for a long time and receives viable projects from students.

"Searching for diamonds is like a detective task – we have to find sites in difficult geological conditions. It is not always easy to choose worthwhile ideas in project groups, and we turn to students for help. During the "CASE-IN" we have studied dozens of proposals, many of which have been finalized and implemented at the enterprise. Polytechnic students are always attentive to technological and organizational issues, so I return to the company with a large amount of information for further discussion," said Denis Koshkarev.

Ruslan Borontsoev, Chief Specialist of the Underground Mining Department of the ALROSA Management Office, congratulated the leaders in the mining sector. The prizes were taken by students of the Department of Surveying and Geodesy. In the semi-finals, "Parhelion" will perform, which includes activists of the NGO "Alidada".

"Our solution is designed to optimize the work at the mine, first of all, to speed it up and improve the quality. All the functions we need are combined by the TAKT system," explained Ruslan Druz, a 5th-year student.

The contestants of the "Oil and Gas business" direction compared the strategies for the development of deposits of PJSC YATEK. The most reasoned answer was provided by The winner of the Autumn Cup of the XI season is the Oil Sharks inc. team. The diplomas were presented to the students by Associate Professor of the Department of Oil and Gas Engineering Grigory Romanov. In the semifinals, Irkutsk Polytechnic University will be represented by fourth-year students Maxim Egorov, Dmitry Melentyev and Kirill Sokolnikov.

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