The St. Petersburg Mining University has served as the main design bureau of the Russian Empire, USSR and now modern Russia since its inception. For 250 years our scientists have been creating breakthrough technologies and implementing them at mineral resource enterprises, modernizing production chains, and conducting experiments related to minimizing anthropogenic impact on nature. The rearmament of the Russian army after the defeat in the Crimean war of 1853-56; the discovery of the Volga-Ural oil and gas province; development of nanotechnologies for non-ferrous metallurgy; penetration into the planet's deepest subglacial lake Vostok in Antarctica; research in hydrogen energy: these and many other achievements are a matter of deserved pride for representatives of the first technical university in the country.
University graduates, who have discovered hundreds of fields and designed production facilities, include world-famous geologists Alexander Karpinsky, Vladimir Obruchev, Dmitry Nalivkin, the founder of the theory of oil Ivan Gubkin, reformer of the national metallurgical industry Pavel Obukhov and many others. The work started by their great predecessors is being continued by the scientists who work at the laboratories and research centres of Russia's oldest technical university today.
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They have modern equipment that meets the highest international standards and makes it possible to conduct experiments of any complexity, obtain reliable scientific results, generate new fundamental knowledge and create breakthrough technologies on their basis. For example, the Scientific Centre for Mineral and Technogenic Resources Processing is working on innovative fuel additives that will minimize damage to the environment caused by exhaust emissions from car engines.
Another highly sought-after area is research into the production of needle coke. This work is driven by the fact that the refining depth at some refineries in Russia is as low as 65-67%, which is extremely low. In Western countries this figure is as high as 97%, because all refineries there are equipped with coking reactors. These enable the heavy fractions left after the primary oil distillation to be recycled. The task of the Centre's scientists is not only to implement this technology, but also to obtain new high-margin products thanks to it. First of all, premium quality needle coke, which is indispensable for making anodes, graphite electrodes and other high value products.
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The research being done at the Research Centre for Geomechanics and Mining Issues at St Petersburg Mining University is also in high demand by the business. In particular, its specialists can accurately assess the development of geomechanical processes in the contour area of underground workings and the stability of the sides of open pits; they can develop recommendations to improve the industrial safety of mining companies and increase their economic profitability.
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A special achievement of the university's scientists is the penetration into the subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica. This largest body of water on the White Continent, isolated from the outside world for millions of years, is located at a depth of 3,769 metres. Twice, in 2012 and 2015, drillers from the Mining University penetrated it and took unique water samples there.
Employees of the Laboratory "Drilling Technology and Techniques in Station Vostok" of the Artkika Science Centre go to Antarctica every year, drill deep wells in the glacier there, install, set up, maintain and repair unique drilling and support equipment, work on improving its productivity, reliability and energy efficiency.
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At the conclusion of the 2021/22 season, representatives of Russia's oldest technical university obtained more than 130 metres of core material from a borehole above Lake Vostok. In particular, they recovered ice from a depth of three and a half kilometres which is more than 560,000 years old. Its study in laboratory conditions will allow to find out what was the climate on our planet at that time. A study of other, 'younger cylinders' will provide information on the climatic changes that have occurred since then and the reasons behind them. This information can be used not only to plot average global temperatures but also to make predictions for the future.
Mining University’s partners include major energy, mining, engineering and chemical companies. They include BELAZ, Novatek, Polyus, Rosneft, Russian Copper Company, SIBUR, Titan, PhosAgro, CAT, Schneider Electric and many others. Their interest in cooperation with the university is dictated primarily by the high qualification of scientists who conduct scientific research here, as well as constant updating of the material base, which allows this research to meet the highest expectations of business.
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Contact
Mikhail Ivanov
Phone Number
+7 (812) 328-8674
+7 (921) 341-6946
Mail
Ivanov_MV@pers.spmi.ru
nauka@spmi.ru
Address;
21st Line of the Vasilievsky Island, 2nd Building
199106, Saint Petersburg, Russia.