IRNTU: winners of the qualifying stage in petrochemistry, design engineering, heat and electric power industry have been determined

The qualifying stage of the XIII International CASE-IN Engineering Championship in Petrochemistry, thermal power engineering, electric power engineering and design engineering took place in IRNTU. The winners were students from Irkutsk Polytechnic University and Bratsk State University who solved cases commissioned by Gazprom Energoholding, Rosseti and SIBUR.

It should be noted that the theme of the 2025 championship is "Technological innovation". The winners of the qualifying round will represent their universities in the semi-finals.

Elena Apanovich, Deputy Minister of Education of the Angara Region, spoke at the event. According to her, Polytech once again provides opportunities and a platform for young talents to prove themselves in the most sought-after areas of development of the industrial sector, engineering.

"By participating in the championship, you accepted the challenge and embarked on a path of difficult challenges. Undoubtedly, this decision will lead you to new achievements. I wish you success and realization in the profession that you chose when applying to universities," the Deputy Minister addressed the participants.

According to Mikhail Kornyakov, Rector of IRNTU, thanks to CASE-IN, industrial companies select personnel. The participants of the championship are future professionals who are ready to develop production and our country.

Ilya Pereguda, a leading engineer at INC-service, congratulated the winners and prize-winners. In the field of "Project engineering" the team "Club of anonymous kokakolnikov" was in the lead. As Mikhail Grishkevich, the captain of the winning team, noted, the team was solving the SIBUR case. The students were looking for effective ways to eliminate oil product spills.

"We have proposed a comprehensive solution based on the production and use of supersorbents. Industrialists should pay attention to polystyrene with the addition of dimethylformadide, which has a large sorption capacity. A sorbent based on cellulose esters and highly resistant nanoporous boron nitride will also help eliminate the spill," Mikhail Grishkevich explained.

SIBUR has also prepared a case study for participants in the Petrochemistry field. Petrochemicals became the first in this competition. Expert Viktor Bayandin congratulated the Polytechnic students on their success. The associate professor of the university emphasized that the participants were asked to optimize the operation of the distillation column in order to reduce isobutylene losses. This gas is used in the production of fuels, polymers and synthetic rubber. The winners made correct calculations on the operating mode of the equipment, and used artificial intelligence to help adjust the column's functionality.

According to Leonid Chupin, captain of the Neftekhimiki team, the authors first modeled the rectification processes in the Aspen Hysys program. Then we decided to improve the "automation" by connecting to an existing neural network in production. Due to AI, it will be possible to predict the processes inside the column and ensure the autonomy of the system. All this will increase the rectification output by 3-6%, provide more precise steam flow control with savings on heating up to 10-35%.

Espada from Bratsk State University became the first in the nomination "Electric Power Industry". Nikolay Alexandrov, a leading specialist in the field of technological development, innovation, energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement at ROSSETI Siberia, congratulated the students on their success.

Maxim Shvarev, captain of Espada, received the award on behalf of the ROSSETI PJSC case solving team. As the student noted, according to the assignment, it was necessary to choose the optimal type of transmission line from the Novovoronezh NPP to Moscow. It was necessary to choose between alternating and direct current lines.

"SWOT and economic analyses have shown that direct current is preferable. It facilitates the transmission of electricity with the least loss over long distances. Also, the construction of power lines does not require a lot of wires and other materials. I admit that it was difficult to work on the case because there are no facilities with direct current lines in Russia yet. Therefore, in search of information, we turned to foreign literature. The path to victory was not easy: it is difficult to compete with teams that are looking for an innovative solution for the same task. At the same time, we realized how best to finalize the project and in which direction to move forward," said Maxim Shvarev.

Ekaterina Samarkina, Director of the Institute of Energy, awarded the participants of the Thermal Power Engineering direction. The guys got a task from Gazprom Energoholding LLC. 

The project was described by polytechnic students Vsevolod Gribanov and Nikita Pinyagin, whose team "BKZ-820" was recognized as the best. 

"Students needed to find technical solutions for a decentralized heat supply system. The team proposed to place such a system on the territory of a woodworking industry and a livestock farm. The complex may be appropriate in a village where there are similar facilities," Nikita Pinyagin said.

According to Vsevolod Gribanov, the boiler responsible for heat supply will burn waste from woodworking and agriculture. A similar boiler was developed and patented by associate professor of IRNTU Viktor Bochkarev. It is proposed to additionally equip the device with an innovative cyberphysical system.

Anastasia Ulanova, a freshman at IRNTU and a participant in the Electric Power Industry field, shared her impressions of the championship. Together with her classmates, she selected measures to cover the energy shortage in Moscow and the Moscow region.

"The championship helped us gain teamwork experience, knowledge in engineering and economics. Interaction with experts was especially valuable. Feedback and comments on our decision made it clear what gaps there are and what needs to be improved. Next year we are going to take part in the CASE-IN again. We aim to win," said the student.

We remind you that on March 14, the defense took place in other areas – geological exploration, oil and gas and mining, metallurgy.

The organizers of the CASE-IN are the Reliable Shift Foundation, the Non–profit Partnership Youth Forum of Mining Leaders, and AstraLogica LLC with the support of the presidential platform "Russia is a Land of Opportunities." The event's partners are federal agencies and companies in the fuel and energy and mineral resource complexes, the petrochemical and nuclear industries, metallurgy, and construction.

For 13 years, CASE-IN has brought together more than 100 schools and universities, 170 industry companies.

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