The finalists of the CASE-IN championship from St. Petersburg Mining University have become known

The qualifying stage of the Student League of the International Engineering CASE-IN Championship has been completed at the St. Petersburg Mining University of Empress Catherine II. This year it is being held for the 14th time. The essence of the competition, organized by the Reliable Change Foundation and with the support of the presidential platform "Russia – the Land of Opportunities", is to solve real engineering problems proposed by the largest industry companies.

It's no secret that experienced, established specialists who have been working in production for years cannot always find a new solution: their eyes are blurred, and daily work tasks involve little creativity. At the CASE-IN, young people can take a "fresh look" at the current situation and offer their vision. Sometimes it can be quite futuristic and even extravagant. The greater the chance that the domestic energy sector, construction, metallurgy and other key industries for the country will be replenished with new ideas and specialists.

One of the city venues of the CASE-IN qualifying stage was the St. Petersburg Mining University of Empress Catherine II. This year, it hosted 44 teams from four universities, including Samara, Yekaterinburg, and Izhevsk. The place was chosen for a reason – the oldest technical university in Russia with more than 250 years of history, today it is at the forefront of science and technological development. Recently, by presidential decree, the university was designated as a national center for the Corps of Mining Engineers.

The university participates in the Championship every year. The miners have three cups for the first places and many prizes in the piggy bank. The winners of the competition from different years are now actively working in the industry, launching their own engineering startups, and leading production. Nikita Libnitsky, a graduate of the Mining faculty in 2013, became the CEO of the Gipronickel Design and Research Institute. And Anthony Rakipov currently holds the post of Deputy Director of the Strategic Projects Department of BMX RUS JSC.

"This shows that our students have the necessary knowledge and skills to solve the most serious challenges of modern mining. But regardless of the result, participating in such a championship is an opportunity to take a serious step towards your professional engineering development. The skills to solve complex interdisciplinary problems, the ability to speak and defend one's point of view are all necessary for modern engineers and managers," Oleg Kazanin, Dean of the Faculty of Mines, addressed the audience during the opening ceremony.

Anthony Rakipov addressed the young colleagues with words of support. He advised you to be positive and not expect any praise.: "Good decisions do not need approval, but explanation and implementation. Strive to realize yourself in the engineering field, to prove your worth. Strive to fulfill your engineering duty and create truly good solutions for the benefit of your country. May the strongest, most creative and persistent one win."

This year, the topic was technologies of the future. There were competitions in five areas: "Architecture, design, construction and housing and communal services", "Mining", "Metallurgy", "Oil and gas business", "Electric power industry". The judges were deans, professors and lecturers of St. Petersburg Mining University and representatives of leading companies. The partners of each direction were JSC ALROSA, JSC United Company RUSAL, PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel, SEZ Alabuga, OOO NPO TN-Biotech (TN Tatneft), PJSC ROSSETI, PJSC Yakutsk Fuel and Energy Company and others. They have prepared practice-oriented cases for students based on current needs and tasks.

The young people spent the whole day conferring, discussing and defending their work, and most importantly, receiving feedback and advice from experts. Many noted the well-developed and original solutions of the students, the relevance of the topics.

"One of the cases was devoted to the problem of the electric power industry in the Yakutsk region. I work in this cluster myself, and I can confirm that the problem exists and needs to be solved. The guys' approach to understanding it and the proposed solutions are already a significant plus. It is possible that a deeper analysis of capital and operating costs will be required to fully implement the proposals, but in general, the issues raised are urgent and timely. Thank them for this," said Yuri Strelkov, a representative of Nordgold.

"I would like to mention three teams that examined the grid industry using the example of specific regions: the North-West and the Krasnodar Territory. The idea of using small-scale nuclear power was worked out for the North. For the Krasnodar Territory, it is a matter of increasing capacities and using alternative sources of generation. These proposals were well-founded and applicable to specific conditions. As a person with extensive experience in the energy sector, I can say that your answers were decent. It is clear that you have been preparing and trying to formulate your thoughts competently, from the point of view of specialists," Dmitry Kharitonov, a representative of System Electric, shared his impressions.

According to the results of the championship, 5 winning teams were determined. Among them is the VECTOR team (Electric Power Engineering). It consists of 4th year students of the Faculty of Energy Rustam Saibekov (captain), Dmitry Kuzyakin, Nikita Nikolaev and Kristina Ikonnikova.

The guys have been participating in the CASE-IN for the second year in a row. Last year, they finished fifth in the final stage. This is where they hope to win. The "sponsor" of their case was the federal company PJSC ROSSETI. It was proposed to develop a comprehensive solution for a section of the electrical network. It was necessary not only to analyze the threats, assess the risks, and propose measures to protect the power grid infrastructure, but also to justify the economic and practical effectiveness of the chosen solution.

"We proposed using hydraulic storage, which is essentially a large generation facility. This system allows you to adjust the workload of the consumption schedule during the day. At night, water accumulates in the upper reservoir, and in the morning, at peak consumption, generation is turned on. This makes it possible to smooth out the consumption schedule in the Leningrad region. According to our research, based on data from system operators, the consumption schedule in our region is uneven. This is due to the live load – we consume a lot during the day, and at night, when most are asleep, consumption decreases. This creates certain problems. Our facility allows us to increase the schedule occupancy rate and the operating coefficient of the nuclear power plant that we operate," said Rustam Saybekov.

Especially valuable for the participants was the opportunity to receive feedback from experts, professionals in their field, who were ready to share their production experience and answer questions.

"Our expert was Dmitry Kharitonov (System Electric), a visiting specialist in the field of relay protection and automation. He explained the scheme of one of the technologies that we proposed to implement. He also spoke about the nuances of the digital transformation of the energy structure. Communication with him was very productive and useful. He is an expert in our industry, and it was interesting for us, future specialists, to learn from his experience. His comments about the production, the technologies used and possible problems were especially valuable. He also shared his thoughts on what we, as specialists, need for effective development at this stage," Nikita Nikolaev and Dmitry Kuzyakin say.

Another team that made it to the finals is Metal 4.0, which consists of 3rd and 4th year students of the Faculty of Mineral Processing Kirill Grishanov (captain), Mikhail Kustov, Gleb Yevgrafov, Ignaty Zaitsev.

The united company RUSAL, the largest producer of aluminum with a low carbon footprint, acted as a partner of the Metallurgy direction. The case was devoted to the urgent task of environmental modernization of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant as part of the transition to the innovative technology RA-550, which provides a radical reduction in the negative impact on the environment.

"The case was narrow-profile and very specific: firing and starting the electrolyzer. We mainly study the production of metals, and here - firing and pre-start preparation of equipment. I had to delve into the topic further and read a lot of literature. We have reviewed all existing firing technologies and, using the hierarchy analysis method, determined that the combined method would be the best. We used the preliminary flame gas method. An important condition of our solution is the use of a heavy electrolyte. The electrolyte is weighted with barium chloride and fluoride. This makes it denser than aluminum and separates the aluminum layer from what needs to be fired. This improves not only the distribution, but also the mechanical properties," explains Kirill Grishanov.

"Perhaps the use of chlorides in our technology is a controversial decision. These substances are highly volatile and negatively affect both the environment and human health. However, we took this aspect into account and found a patent solution regarding the ratio of electrolyte and aluminum layers in order to minimize their evaporation. We carefully considered this point and were able to find a positive solution," adds Gleb Yevgrafov.

The final of the CASE-IN Engineering Championship will be held on May 20-22 in Moscow.

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