Around 98% of cumene is used to produce phenol and its co-product acetone. However, the outlook for cumene is largely dependent on the performance of phenol’s derivatives which have resulted in healthy growth rates for cumene.
Global cumene demand in the 2001-2006 period grew by over 5%/year. Cumene demand growth is expected to be slightly below phenol’s growth rate of just over 4%/year in the 2006-2011 period.
Modern process technology is based on the reaction of propylene and benzene either in the liquid or gas phases. These processes initially used solid phosphoric acid or aluminium chloride catalysts but in recent years there has been a shift to using zeolite catalysts.
Cumene is a colourless liquid, with characteristic sharp, penetrating, gasoline-like odour. Cumene is stable at room temperature but must be kept well away from oxidising agents.
Cumene
Price Reports
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Cumene
Uses and Outlook
Around 98% of cumene is used to produce phenol and its co-product acetone. However, the outlook for cumene is largely dependent on the performance of phenol’s derivatives which have resulted in healthy growth rates for cumene.
More about Cumene Uses and Outlook
Cumene
Process Technologies
The original process to manufacture cumene was propyl alkylation of benzene using sulphuric acid as the catalyst. However, this process suffered from complicated neutralisation and recycle steps as well as corrosion problems.
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