TOGU students have developed solutions to an engineering case for the development of the Arctic

This is the second time that TOGU has participated in the international CASE-IN Championship. In 2017, 4 teams of university students developed case solutions in the field of Mining. In a short period of time, the guys had to analyze the geological conditions of a real deposit in the Amur region, propose a mining system and provide an economic justification for the project.

Rector of TOGU Sergey Ivanchenko In his opening remarks, he noted that it was time for the university to expand its participation in CASE-IN in new directions, including to begin active cooperation with schools.:

– Last year we took part in this championship for the first time and gained invaluable experience. It's time to move on and try out new CASE-IN directions available to our university: "Oil and gas business" and "Petrochemistry". I also think we should involve schoolchildren in the championship: to conduct career guidance with them and thereby not only popularize scientific activities among the younger generation, but also to give children all the knowledge necessary for future professional growth..

In 2018, 6 mining league teams have already presented projects from the university.: "Gold Mine", "Rubicon", "Elbrus", "Beauties", "Arctic Depths" and "Wealth of the Earth". The theme of this year's championship was "Arctic Development". In 10 days, students had to develop a solution to the Arctic Coal engineering case: analyze the climatic, infrastructural, mining and geological conditions and propose a project concept for the development of the Kholodny coal mine. The students' tasks also included: to identify the range of possible consumers, to propose the best option for transporting coal, to calculate the costs and investments required for the project, and to propose sources of financing.

The expert jury, which included researchers from the Institute of Mining of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, representatives of the Mining Complex Development Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Khabarovsk Territory, Makromine RUS LLC and scientists from TOGU, evaluated the teams' projects according to 5 criteria: technology, economics, novelty of the solution, the ability to present their ideas and, for the first time in this year, the answers to the experts' questions.

Case protection was strictly regulated – exactly 6 minutes per presentation and no more than 10 slides per presentation. For every minute of exceeding the time limit, the team received a penalty – minus 1 point from the total score.

The Rubicon team won the qualifying stage. TOGU students Fyodor Vasilchenko, Gleb Sudar, Irina Smirnova and Kristina Skryleva offered the most complete and relevant solution to the problem, shares the opinion of one of the experts, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Transport and Technological Systems in Construction and Mining at TOGU. Gennady Voskresensky:

– The Rubicon team has received an interesting proposal for the organization of coal delivery. The students proposed an unusual method – conveyor. The closed-type tubular conveyor eliminates the loss of coal in the form of dust to the surrounding area, which ensures environmental requirements, in particular, promotes the safe migration of reindeer through the territory adjacent to the mining area. Therefore, this solution is very interesting in comparison with road and rail transport. Along with this, mining is characterized by the consumption of a large amount of electricity. Given the lack of energy resources at the production site, the authors at the first stage proposed a floating diesel power plant on the Lena River, and as production increases, a floating nuclear power plant, which is undoubtedly an innovative solution in the conditions of the North and the Arctic and is not yet used anywhere in the North.

Now the guys will have to solve a new case and present their decision to the expanded expert commission at the final of the championship, which will be held in Moscow.

The CASE-IN International Engineering Championship is a federal case championship in which students from leading technical universities in Russia and neighboring countries solve engineering cases – practical tasks based on real-world production situations in companies in the fuel and energy and mineral resource complexes. In 2018, more than 4,000 students from 52 universities will compete in six industry areas: geological exploration, mining, metallurgy, oil and gas, petrochemistry, and electric power.

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