Hawthorn Unit 5 Case Study

Hawthorn Unit 5

Kansas City Power & Light

Kansas City, Missouri

An explosion during a maintenance outage on February 17, 1999, destroyed the original Hawthorn Unit 5 boiler. In August 1999, B&W was released to design, supply, erect and commission a complete replacement boiler on an accelerated schedule. The new boiler began generating electricity in June 2001, only 22 months from project commencement.

Plant Owner

Kansas City Power & Light

Plant Name

Hawthorn Unit 5

Location

Kansas City, Missouri

Owner’s Consulting Engineer

Burns & McDonnell

B&W Scope

• Complete boiler island from coal-conveying system to stack, including:
  • structural steel
  • dry FGD
  • fabric filter
  • ash systems
  • electrical, including motor control centers, switchgear, and wiring
  • auxiliary piping systems
  • critical piping to the turbines
  • Construction by Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co., Inc. (BWCC), a B&W subsidiary
  • Architectural services for the boiler island
  • Startup and commissioning services

Boiler Specifications

• Type: Pulverized coal-fired radiant drum boiler (RB Carolina-Type)
• Design fuel: Low sulfur Powder River Basin coal
• Capacity: 550 MW net
• Steam flow: 4,000,000 lb/h (504 kg/s)
• Superheater outlet pressure: 2600 psig (17.9 MPa)
• SH/RH outlet temperature: 1005/1005 F (541/541 C)

Environmental Equipment

• DRB-4Z® low NOx burners and overfire air
• Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) NOx removal system
• Dry flue gas desulfurization (FGD) system
• Pulse jet fabric filter (PJFF)

Other Equipment Supplied by B&W

• B&W Roll Wheel® pulverizers, Series 89
• Boiler cleaning system (sootblowers and waterwall blowers) by B&W

Contract Order: 1999

Commercial Operation: 2001

Project Facts

• Rebuilt unit’s capacity uprated from 476 MW to 550 MW
• PJFF was built on the foundation of one of the original electrostatic precipitators (ESP) and adapted the existing hoppers and support steel.
• Even with a compressed schedule and the constraints of rebuilding within an existing site, the project achieved every major milestone. Sectional Side and Plan Views of Hawthorn Unit 5

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Pollution control equipment on Hawthorn Unit 5 includes an SCR system for NOx reduction, dry FGD for SO2 control, and a pulse jet fabric filter for particulate control.