The Department of Machines and Apparatus of Chemical Production (since 1997 – the Department of Machines and Apparatus of Chemical and Oil Refining Industries – MAHNV) was founded in 1928 at the Faculty of Chemical Technology, and ten years later it was transferred to the newly created Faculty of Chemical Engineering (since 1999 – the Faculty of Chemical Engineering faculty), in 2008 the department celebrated its 80th anniversary.
The first sixteen mechanical engineers received specialist diplomas in 1935.
Until 1941, the department graduated three academic groups each year in the specialty “Machines and apparatus of chemical production”. In addition to the diploma of a mechanical engineer, most of the graduates received a military rank.
The high level of training of mechanical engineers in chemical industries led to the opening in 1934 of a new specialty “Machines and apparatus of the pulp and paper industry”. Enrollment for the first year of the department was increased to four academic groups. Such a set has survived to the present time.
The initiator of the creation of the department was a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Vasyl Yukhimovych Vasiliev, who headed the department until 1945. It was on his initiative that the Faculty of Chemical Engineering was established based on the department in 1938, four departments of which have the highest, fourth, level of accreditation, and annually graduate about 300 specialists in four specialties.
Under the leadership of Professor V.Yu. Vasiliev in the pre-war years, a large scientific team was formed at the department, which was engaged in the engineering support of coal mines. Thanks to the cooling, drying, and air conditioning installations developed by his employees and the creation of a methodology for choosing the optimal composition of the charge, the successful exploitation of the deep mines of Donbas became possible.
During these years, the following well-known specialists worked at the department: professors O.O. Kirov, M.O. Geishtoft, N.S. Pines (head of the department of metallurgy), honored worker of science and technology of the Ukrainian SSR, professor O.S. Plygunov, who was the constant rector of KPI in the post-war years (from 1945 to 1971), associate professors P.F. Bruyakin and S.I. Tsitkin (later head of the hydraulics department).
During the Great Patriotic War, the department was evacuated to Tashkent, where it continued to work as part of the Central Asian Industrial Institute, assisting the Tashsilmash, Chervony Aksay, and other enterprises in the creation of technology for the production of military equipment. With the active participation of Vasyl Yukhimovych Vasiliev, the Uzbek Metallurgical Plant was designed and built. With the participation of many first graduates of the department, in particular S.A. Horodynska and A.H. Bondar, under the leadership of Professor O.S. Plygunov, important works of a defensive nature were carried out.
Almost all fifth-year students went to the front after short-term training. Many teachers and employees of the department also went through the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, in particular B.A. Gaevskyi and V.I. Hnatovskyi, teaching master V.I. Kovalenko, and one of the first associate professors of the department P.F. Bruyakin died near Kursk.
Shortly after the liberation of Kyiv, the department was re-evacuated from Tashkent. Despite the war, which was still going on, thanks to the selfless work of students, teachers, and employees of the department, on October 1, 1944, the training of specialists was resumed, and in 1947, the defense of diplomas took place in the first post-war “collective” group. Among her students were future employees of the department V.T. Myrhorodskyi and R.G. Dudnik
It is safe to say that this and many subsequent issues would not have been possible without the great efforts made by an outstanding scientist in the field of chemical engineering, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Yosyp Ilyich Chornobylskyi, founder of the Kyiv School of Processes and Apparatus of Chemical Production, a graduate of KPI in 1922, who headed the department in 1945 and was its head for the next 28 years.
It was under the leadership of Professor Chornobylsky that the reconstruction of the MAHV department and the entire faculty of chemical engineering took place in the post-war years. Having considerable scientific, pedagogical, and organizational experience and talent, Professor Y.I. Chornobylskyi did a lot for the development of the MAHV department. Under his leadership, 25 candidates and doctors of science defended their theses, including future professors of the department R.Ya. Ladiev, and Yu.Yu. Lukach, O.N. Piven, E.H. Vorontsov, V.M. Marchevskyi, Y.M. Kornienko, associate professors S.A. Horodynska, V.T. Myrhorodskyi, Yu.M. Tananayko, O.G. Zubrii, S.V. Sydorenko and others. It was then that the main directions of Professor Chornobylskyi’s scientific school were established, which were further developed by Professors V.M. Marchevskyi, and Yu.Yu. Lukach, Y.M. Kornienko.
From 1973 to 1999, the constant head of the department was its graduate, doctor of technical sciences, honored professor of NTUU “KPI” Yuriy Yukhimovych Lukach. Since 1999, the department has been managed by the Honored Worker of Public Education of Ukraine Yaroslav Mykytovych Kornienko.
Over the past decades, the basic directions of the department’s scientific work have been formed: the development of evaporation equipment and film apparatus, the study of the properties of polymers and the creation of machines and equipment for their production and processing, the intensification of drying processes and the creation of new drying equipment, the study of wood processing processes and the production of paper products, cleaning effluents and emissions of industrial production, protection of metals from corrosion. The department maintains a priority in the field of research of new membrane processes for liquid separation. One of the important directions of the department’s work in the field of increasing the durability of equipment is the development of new polymer coatings and methods of their application.
Professors R.Ya. worked fruitfully in these directions at the department for many years. Ladiev, M.I. Pavlishchev and E.H. Vorontsov, associate professors S.I. Dobronohova, Yu.M. Tananayko, Yu.I. Trokhin and others. The scientific works of Professor L. B. Radchenko, devoted to the modeling and design of worm machines, are widely known among specialists.
Based on scientific and applied developments of the department, its employees have published more than 50 monographs and textbooks, which are studied by students of all CIS countries. The textbook “Machines and Apparatus of Chemical Production. Fundamentals of Theory and Calculation”, written by the author’s team the department, survived three reprints, and the monograph by Y.I. Chornobyl “Evaporation plants” – two. One of the first textbooks for pulp and paper industry engineers was the monograph of B.A. Gaevsky’s “Machines and Apparatus of the Paper Industry”, and two monographs of the professor of the department, Doctor of Technical Sciences E.H. Vorontsov were extradited abroad.
Over the past 20 years, the teachers and employees of the department have published more than 140 scientific and methodological developments, several dozen textbooks, received about 600 copyright certificates of the USSR and patents of Russia and Ukraine, 15 patents of the leading countries of the world, published in various publications (including in the USA, Canada, countries of Western and Eastern Europe) more than 500 scientific articles.
Over the years of its existence as part of KPI, the department has trained about 100 doctors and candidates of sciences and more than 4,000 highly qualified engineers, including for Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Algeria. The teachers of the department are Professor E.H. Vorontsov and Associate Professor B.I. Duda, S.V. Sydorenko, M.P. Swedes have worked for many years in technical universities of French-speaking countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
Among the department’s graduates are many managers of industrial enterprises, project organizations, and research institutes, in particular V.O. Anufriev, I.M. Bely, A.I. Ivanchenko, Yu.B. Miroshnychenko, A.P. Polyvyaniy, I.M. Stelmakh, A.P. Khorkov. Graduates of the department are the former Minister of Education of Ukraine A.H. Bondar, long-term vice-rector of KPI V.I. Hnatovsky, who put a lot of effort into the construction of the new building of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine B.I. Bondarenko, deputy directors of the Institute of Thermal Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine B.N. Protsyshyn and Yu.F. Snezhkin
The scientific and educational equipment of the MAHNV department includes about 75 installations, machines, and devices. Constant work is carried out on the modernization of existing and the creation of modern experimental installations with the use of the latest measurement and information complexes. 3 computer classes and one specialized computer classroom were created using modern application software packages for designing equipment and industrial complexes in the chemical, petrochemical, microbiological, and other industries.
To improve the level of training of OKR specialists “bachelor”, “specialist”, “master” and post-graduate students, the department created a student scientific circle, a permanent seminar training for listening to reports of post-graduate students and masters. In each diploma, starting with the OKR “Bachelor”, the student must provide documentary evidence of intellectual property protection of the idea presented in the project.
The MAHNV department maintains creative ties with almost all related departments of the CIS countries and has cooperation agreements with the best institutes of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Gas Research Institute, Thermophysics Research Institute, Bioorganic Chemistry, and Petrochemistry Research Institute) and factories.