Cumene Process Flowsheets & Simulations
Explore 2 validated, solved Cumene simulation flowsheets in MaximaLabs — real components: benzene, propylene, cumene, oxygen, nitrogen, cumene_hydroperoxide. Open any one directly in your browser.
Solved via: PENG-ROBINSON.
Cumene production (benzene alkylation)
Benzene and propylene alkylate over a fixed-conversion reactor to cumene (isopropylbenzene, the feedstock for phenol/acetone via the Hock process); a downstream column recovers unreacted benzene overhead for recycle-quality purity while cumene leaves the bottoms. Luyben, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2010, 49, 719.
7 unit ops • PENG-ROBINSON
221 0
View & openPhenol + 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.
16 unit ops • PENG-ROBINSON
222 0
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