In: Mechanical Engineering
A steam power plant operates on a regenerative Rankine cycle with two feedwater heaters, one closed and one open. Steam enters the turbine at 12.5 MPa and 550ºC and exhausts to the condenser at 10 kPa. Steam is extracted from the turbine at 1 MPa for the closed feedwater heater and 0.8 MPa for the open one. The feedwater is heated to the condensation temperature of the extracted steam in the closed feedwater heater. The extracted steam leaves the closed feedwater heater as a saturated liquid, which is subsequently throttled to the open feedwater heater. Show the cycle on a T-s diagram with respect to saturation lines, and determine(a) the mass flow rate of steam through the boiler for a net power output of 350 MW and (b) the thermal efficiency of the cycle.