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Phenol/acetone complex, Antwerp, Belgium

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.

Cumene
AIR
MIX
OXID
Coolox
Oxflash
Offgas
Cleave
Coolcl
Acetcol
Acetone
Cumcol
Cumene Recycle
Phencol
Phenol
Heavies
  1. 1
    Open 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.

  2. 2
    Confirm 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.

  3. 3
    Review 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.

  4. 4
    Run 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.

  5. 5
    Read 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.

What you'll build
Thermodynamics
PENG-ROBINSON
Components
cumene, oxygen, nitrogen, cumene_hydroperoxide, phenol, acetone
Unit operations
MIX2× Cleave2× CoolclOxflash3× Phencol
Open this model in the workspace

Opens live on the canvas — free, no install.

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