Tomsk Polytechnic University hosts the International Engineering CASE-IN Championship

New products from natural gas, the second life of plastic, solutions for the development of Russia's energy systems – these and other tasks are being solved by the participants of the International Engineering CASE-IN Championship, the qualifying stage of which started in Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU).

Elena Vorontsova, Head of the TPU Strategic Partnership Department and CASE-IN organizer from the Polytechnic University, told RIA Tomsk about the course of the championship.

About the championship

CASE-IN is one of the traditional events for modern schoolchildren, students and young professionals. For example, the Student League of the Championship unites students from Russia and the CIS.

The CASE-IN qualifying stages are held at 56 universities in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. Student teams compete in seven industry areas: geological exploration, mining, metallurgy, oil and gas, petrochemistry, digital atom, electric power industry. Their task is to offer solutions to specific engineering problems.

The current season of the international championship is the eighth in a row. Its theme is "Technological modernization". The finals of all the leagues of the VIII season of the International Engineering CASE-IN Championship will be held in May in Moscow.

Tomsk CASE-IN

The CASE-IN Championship, as the successor to the All-Russian Fuel and Energy Case Solving Championship, was first held at TPU in 2015. The first and only direction (then the league) was the "electric power industry". The number of destinations increased with each subsequent year.

Over the years of TPU's participation in the CASE-IN, the participating teams and the organizing team have received many awards. One of the significant results of the championship is the possibility of including the qualifying stages in the list of priority events. Since 2019, students who have won the CASE-IN finals have the right to enroll in the master's and postgraduate programs of TPU without entrance tests.

In 2020, TPU is one of 56 venues hosting the qualifying stages of the Student League and one of six hosting the qualifying stage of the League of Young Professionals.

"This is the choice of the organizing committee of the championship (Reliable Change Foundation, AstraLogica LLC, NP Youth Forum of Mining Leaders), as well as the strategic partners of the championship – the largest companies in the fuel and energy and mineral resource complexes," Vorontsova said.

According to her, registration for the Tomsk stage of the CASE-IN ended a few days ago, with 70 teams of students and young professionals submitting applications. Currently, the participants have received assignments from the organizers and partners of the competition.

"The essence of the CASE-IN championship is that participants, united in teams of three or four people, need to solve an engineering case in ten days, prepared based on materials from leading companies in the fuel and energy and mineral resources complexes (fuel and energy complex and MSK), and defend their ideas before an expert commission," explains Vorontsova Street.

The completed cases will be presented on March 18 at TPU during the qualifying stage of the League of Young Specialists in the Siberian Federal District and in five areas of the Student League – geological exploration, oil and gas, petrochemistry, digital atom, and electric power industry.

Strategic cases

According to the organizers, one of the tasks for this year's teams is how to ensure the effectiveness of diamond mining operations within the Markhinsky site (Yakutia). The case was developed based on materials from ALROSA, a strategic partner of the Geological Exploration division of the CASE–IN championship.

Petroleum students will have to solve the problems of production and transportation of liquefied natural gas, and propose ideas for the production of synthetic liquid and solid products from natural gas (this case was developed based on materials from PJSC Novatek).

The participants of the Digital Atom direction will create solutions for managing the technical repair and maintenance of numerically controlled machines (the case was developed based on materials from the Rosatom State Corporation).

Energy engineers will present ideas for the development of the UES of Russia and the energy systems of the CIS and Baltic energy union member countries (the case was developed based on the materials of JSC SO UES).

Separate competitions will be held for young specialists of the Fuel and energy Complex and the Moscow Energy Complex. Young engineers from Siberia will work on the case "City of Youth 2.0", dedicated to the technological modernization of energy facilities in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

"The task of the case for future specialists in the petrochemical industry is to give plastics a second life as part of a project for the technological modernization of a petrochemical enterprise (creation of a site for collecting and preparing used PET packaging). The case was developed based on SIBUR materials," Vorontsova said.

At SIBUR's initiative, the collection of caps from plastic bottles for recycling will also be organized during the qualifying stage. The participants who have passed the largest number will receive prizes from the company at the summing up ceremony of the qualifying stage.

A source: RIA Tomsk