The cement production is an energy intensive industry with energy typically accounting for 50-60% of the production costs. In order to recover waste heat from the preheater exhaust and clinker cooler exhaust gases in cement plant, single flash steam cycle, dual-pressure steam cycle, organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and the Kalina cycle are used for cogeneration in cement plant. The exergy analysis for each cogeneration system is examined, and a parameter optimization for each cogeneration system is achieved by means of genetic algorithm (GA) to reach the maximum exergy efficiency. The optimum performances for different cogeneration systems are compared under the same condition. The results show that the exergy losses in turbine, condenser, and heat recovery vapor generator are relatively large. and reducing the exergy losses of these components could improve the performance of the cogeneration system. Compared with other systems, the Kalina cycle could achieve the best performance in cement plant. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.