The biomass fuel is a renewable energy resource, which is viewed as a promising alternative to fossil energy. This paper investigates a biomass-fired Kalina cycle with a regenerative heater which is generally utilized to heat the feedwater and to increase the efficiency in coal-fired steam power plant The mathematical model of the biomass-fired Kalina cycle with a regenerative heater is established to conduct numerical simulation. A parametric analysis is conducted to examine the effects of some key thermodynamic parameters on the system performance. Furthermore, a parametric optimization is carried out by genetic algorithm to obtain the optimum performance of system. The results demonstrate that there exists an optimum extraction pressure and its corresponding maximum fraction of flow extracted from turbine to maximize the net power output and system efficiency. In addition, a higher turbine inlet pressure or turbine inlet temperature leads to higher net power output and system efficiency. And net power output and system efficiency increases as separator temperature rises. The optimization result of the biomass-fired Kalina cycle with/without regenerative heater indicates the system is more efficient when regenerative heater is added. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.