Abstract
A steam cycle with double reheat and turbine extraction is presented. Six heaters are used, three of them at high pressure and the other three at low pressure with deaerator. The first and second law analysis for the cycle and optimization of the thermal and exergy efficiencies are investigated. An exergy analysis is performed to guide the thermodynamic improvement for this cycle. The exergy and irreversibility analyses of each component of the cycle are determined. Effects of turbine inlet pressure, boiler exit steam temperature, and condenser pressure on the first and second laws' efficiencies are investigated. Also the best turbine extraction pressure on the first law efficiency is obtained. The results show that the biggest exergy loss occurs in the boiler followed by the turbine. The results also show that the overall thermal efficiency and the second law efficiency decrease as the condenser pressure increases for any fixed outlet boiler temperature, however, they increase as the boiler temperature increases for any condenser pressure. Furthermore, the best values of extraction pressure from high, intermediate, and low pressure turbine which give the maximum first law efficiencies are obtained based on the required heat load corresponding to each exit boiler temperature.