The Institute of Chemistry, SSU, trains specialists for the Irkutsk Oil Company, which opens a new large-scale production of scarce lithium.
Many years of experience in training engineers at the Institute of Chemistry, SSU, for various petrochemical companies, such as NOVATEK, Lukoil, Gazprom, Rosneft, Schlumberger have contributed to the development of an image in Russia.
The representatives of the Irkutsk Oil Company, where, for the first time in Russia, lithium is extracted from reservoir water, became interested in the training of students according to special curricula developed by SSU scientists together with the industrial partners.
Today, there is a catastrophic shortage of lithium in the world, including in our country, which is used in lithium current sources of electric vehicles, in aviation, metallurgy – its range of applications is very wide, it is crucially important for several key modern industries.
The production, which is organised by the Irkutsk Oil Company and is already operating on a semi-industrial scale, will use for the first time the technology of lithium extraction from field hydromineralized waters. Developing the technological process, lithium manufacturers have chosen the Institute of Chemistry, SSU, as their partner.
The result of this cooperation was the course on chemical and technological foundations of metal extraction from reservoir waters, which is taken by the second group of students is currently studying at the Institute of Chemistry, SSU. The specialists of the first cohort, which studied in 2023, are all already successfully working. During the training period, the company pays for their training by contract. Nowadays, all graduates are employed and satisfied with the terms of the contracts.
Cooperation with the Irkutsk Oil Company began with staff training. But then, while discussing various scientific directions and tasks, university chemists came to the conclusion of a contract for research on the oil preparation for transportation from Western Siberia via an oil pipeline to refineries in the central part of Russia. The work ahead is very demanding.
The course developer, Chair of the Department of Petrochemistry and Technogenic Safety, SSU, Professor Raisa Kuzmina commented on the prospects for such mutually beneficial cooperation. Read the interview with her in the Research City section here.
