How to simulate phenol + acetone via the hock process (cumene peroxidation)
The route that makes ~95% of the world's phenol -- and co-produces acetone, the classic two-products-from-one-feed economics. It completes the cumene story: the existing cumene-synthesis example makes cumene from benzene + propylene; this oxidizes it onward. Two atom-balanced steps: air peroxidation (cumene + O2 -> cumene hydroperoxide, CHP) at low per-pass conversion, then acid-catalyzed cleavage (CHP -> phenol + acetone, near-complete). The spent air is vented, and the crude is separated by boiling point (acetone 56 C < cumene 152 C < phenol 182 C < CHP): high-purity phenol, crude acetone as the co-product, and unreacted cumene recovered for recycle. HONEST SCOPE: rigorous atom-balanced reaction stoichiometry; cumene hydroperoxide is a databank pseudo-component (no CoolProp entry) flashed under Peng-Robinson. The purification is spec-based component-split separators (the Aspen 'Sep'-block technique), not rigorous columns. The acetone product comes out ~98% because residual dissolved air (O2/N2) reports overhead with it -- a real plant adds a light-ends/degassing column for polymer-grade acetone; phenol comes out essentially pure. Recovered cumene is shown as an open recycle stream.
- 1Open the ready-made model
Open the "Phenol + acetone via the Hock process (cumene peroxidation)" model in the MaximaLabs workspace — no install, no license. It loads live on the canvas, ready to edit and run.
- 2Confirm the thermodynamics
This process is modeled with the PENG-ROBINSON property package over cumene, oxygen, nitrogen, cumene_hydroperoxide, phenol, acetone — already selected, so the phase equilibrium and enthalpy are physically consistent from the first run.
- 3Review the flowsheet
The flowsheet chains MIX, 2× Cleave, 2× Coolcl, Oxflash, 3× Phencol. Every block is a real, solvable unit op you can reconfigure on the canvas.
- 4Run the simulation
Click Run. The deterministic solver converges the material and energy balances (recycles included) and fills the live stream table — the AI never invents a number.
- 5Read the results and iterate
Inspect the converged streams, tweak a spec, and re-run — or ask the AI copilot to explain a result or diagnose a failed solve in plain English.
- Thermodynamics
- PENG-ROBINSON
- Components
- cumene, oxygen, nitrogen, cumene_hydroperoxide, phenol, acetone
- Unit operations
- MIX2× Cleave2× CoolclOxflash3× Phencol
Opens live on the canvas — free, no install.