Cumene process

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The cumene process (cumene-phenol process, Hock process) is an industrial process for synthesizing phenol and acetone from benzene and propylene. The term stems from cumene (isopropyl benzene), the intermediate material during the process. It was invented by Rūdolfs Ūdris and Pyotr Sergeyev in 1942 in the Soviet Union, and independently by Heinrich Hock in 1944. This process converts two relatively cheap starting materials, benzene and propylene, into two more valuable ones, phenol and acetone. Other reactants required are oxygen from air and small amounts of a radical initiator. Most of the worldwide production of phenol and acetone is now based on this method. In 2022, nearly 10.8 million tonnes of phenol was produced by the cumene process. In order for this process to be economical, there must also be demand for the acetone by-product as well as the phenol.