5 teams of St. Petersburg Mining University advanced to the next stage of the CASE-IN

The qualifying stage of the XIII season of the International Engineering CASE-IN Championship was held at the Mining University. 41 teams from four universities competed for a ticket to the finals – Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, GSTU named after. Sukhoi, Petrozavodsk State University and St. Petersburg Mining University of Empress Catherine II.

The theme of this season is technological innovation. The guys solved cases from the partner companies of the project (they were Rosseti, ALROSA, Metropolis and others), and then presented their developments to an expert jury. All tasks are not theory, but real cases from engineering practice in 11 industry areas, including architecture, design, geological exploration, metallurgy, and thermal power engineering.

Representatives of the companies noted that the CASE-IN championship is a good chance for talented young people to prove themselves, and business needs not only to assess the level of presentations, but also to "look out" for promising personnel.

As a result, 5 teams advanced to the next stage.

In the field of Mining, the Amniama team won - these are 4th-year students Alexander Olshevsky, Semyon Mechetny, Danil Vokin and Alexander Balandin.

They got a case study on the modernization of blasting technologies in the quarries of ALROSA, a diamond mining company. It was necessary to propose types of explosives and technologies so that the process would be the most economical. And at the same time, there were no problems with the safety of the stones, because this directly affects the company's profits. The guys suggested using a new type of slaughterhouse, and other innovations:

"One of the tasks was to reduce the seismic impact on deep quarries, because there is a problem of destroying their sides, it turns out a simple technique. We suggested using explosion-free technology, which is more technologically advanced. And the difference in labor intensity and material costs will be exactly the same," said team captain Alexander Balandin.

The second team reached the final in the field of "Electric power Industry" – LosPrivodus. It consists of 3rd year students of the Faculty of Energy - Rustam Saybekov, Kristina Ikonnikova, Nikita Nikolaev and Dmitry Kuzyakin.

ROSSETI became the "partner" of their case. The task was set to cover the shortage of electricity in Moscow and the Moscow region by building a power transmission line from the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant, while choosing and specifying a route to the capital region. To do this, the guys compared two options for building overhead power lines - alternating current and direct current, and found out the cost of network elements.

"There is little information because direct current technology is not widespread in our country, so it was necessary to investigate foreign sources. Again, you can't find out the cost directly. We searched through the purchase documents. It was also necessary to select a cable for design in order to calculate power losses. This caused difficulties, because it requires studying a lot of foreign sources, which requires knowledge of professional English, with technical terms," said team captain Rustam Saibekov.

This case is planned to be implemented – the assignment specifies that this will happen before 2032.

In the Oil and Gas Business nomination, the jury singled out the project of the "We'll come up with it later" team (4th year students of the Department of Development and Operation of Oil and Gas Fields – Nikita Tureev, Timofey Yakutin, Artemy Kanteev, Bulat Zagretdinov).

Young people were developing a project for the construction of mini-liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants. Introductory data – the Yakut company has a huge surplus of gas that has not been sold, and it needs to be used. The miners have developed a system of mini-LNG plants with an underground gas storage facility, where it could be pumped in the summer during a period of low demand, and then evenly extracted throughout the year and distributed for import and export.

"We also suggested using Canadian cycling. Few people use it, because Yakutia has a very small population. The third solution was to introduce a nitrogen cooling system with external air cooling. Temperatures in Yakutia are extremely low to -60 degrees in winter, but here we take additional outdoor air, and we additionally cool nitrogen and gas, and we use less capacity to liquefy gas," explains team leader Nikita Tureev.

The finalists also included the 4 miners team (first-year students Viktor Slobodin, Ulyana Abramova, Ilya Stepanov, and Elizaveta Shchirova).

In his Metallurgy nomination, he was offered a case study by Rusal, one of the world's largest producers of primary aluminum and alumina. They were asked to develop a strategy for implementing innovations in general, setting priorities such as reducing energy consumption, digitalization and automation of processes, reducing waste from production, IT technologies for forecasting demand, and others. According to Viktor Slobodin, captain of 4 miners, he is working with Rusal for the third time, so the topic is already familiar.

"Our team presented a comprehensive solution and conducted a detailed analysis. We collected 53 technologies in the register, conducted an integrated assessment according to 6 criteria, then distributed the technologies according to the BCG matrix, uniqueness, and prospects," says Viktor Slobodin.

And in the nomination "Architecture, Design, Construction and Housing and Communal Services", the zames de betono team became the best - 4th–5th year students of the Construction and Energy faculties of the Mining University (Anna Salovarova, Ilya Terekhov, Daniil Tretyakov, Alisa Nosacheva, Arina Likhacheva, Nikita Mishin, Alexander Dudkin).

The task was set by the Metropolis company to draw up a master plan for the concept of a hotel and tourist complex in a natural area: from spatial planning solutions and architectural appearance of buildings to accommodation and leisure options for vacationers.

"We chose a Colosseum-type architecture for the hotel. It seemed convenient to us – tourists staying inside the building have a view of nature, or a more peaceful courtyard with greenhouses. We would like to make a suspension bridge like in Zaryadye Park. It seems to me that this will be a good decision, constructive, because architects can come up with anything, but it is important that it be really implemented," says team captain Anna Salovarova.

The final of the CASE-IN championship will be held in Moscow at the end of May 2025. Future engineers will present the final versions of their solutions to the industry community, share their experiences with colleagues, receive valuable advice from experts and will be able to establish contacts for further implementation of their ideas.

The champions and prize-winners of the Student League will enroll in the university's postgraduate program on preferential terms, complete internships and internships in partner companies with the possibility of further employment. In addition, the authors of the best ideas will receive valuable prizes and invitations to industry youth educational forums.

The contest is being held with the support of the presidential platform "Russia – the land of Opportunities". The organizers are the Reliable Change Foundation, the non-profit partnership Youth Forum of Mining Leaders and AstraLogica LLC.

A source