Method of measuring the concentration of hydroperoxides of alkylaromatic hydrocarbons

1. A method for measuring a concentration of a hydroperoxide of an alkylaromatic hydrocarbon in a process stream, comprising:

immersing a probe into the process stream; wherein the probe is coupled to a spectrometer;

collecting absorption data with the spectrometer at a wavelength of 13,000 cm −1 to 4,000 cm −1 ; and

calculating a concentration of the hydroperoxide of the alkylaromatic hydrocarbon in the process stream, wherein calculating the concentration comprises excluding absorption bands from cumene, phenol, and acetone.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alkylaromatic hydrocarbon is cumene and the hydroperoxide is cumene hydroperoxide.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the concentration of the hydroperoxide comprises determining an absorption calibration curve of known concentrations of the hydroperoxide at a portion of or over the wavelength of 13,000 cm −1 to 4,000 cm −1 .

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of the hydroperoxide in the process stream correlates to results from an iodometric titration.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the probe is coupled to the spectrometer with a fiber optic cable.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transferring a sample of the process stream to a holder and collecting absorption data of the sample with the spectrometer at a wavelength of 13,000 cm −1 to 4,000 cm −1 .

7. A method for measuring a concentration of a hydroperoxide of an alkylaromatic hydrocarbon in a process stream, comprising:

withdrawing a sample from a process stream;

collecting absorption data of the sample with the spectrometer at a wavelength of 13,000 cm −1 to 4,000 cm −1 ; and

calculating a concentration of the hydroperoxide of the alkylaromatic hydrocarbon in the sample, wherein calculating the concentration, comprises excluding absorption bands from cumene, phenol, and acetone.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein calculating the concentration of the hydroperoxide of the alkylaromatic hydrocarbon in the sample comprises determining an absorption calibration curve from known concentrations of the hydroperoxide.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the concentration of the hydroperoxide in the process stream correlates to results from an iodometric titration.

10. A process for monitoring a concentration of cumene hydroperoxide during a process for manufacturing phenol and acetone from cumene, wherein the process for manufacturing the phenol and the acetone comprises oxidizing the cumene in an oxidizing atmosphere to produce a process stream containing cumene hydroperoxide, and decomposing the cumene hydroperoxide with a protic acid to produce the phenol and the acetone, the process comprising:

immersing a probe into the process stream at one or more stages of the oxidizing atmosphere, wherein the probe is coupled to a spectrometer;

collecting absorption data with the spectrometer at a wavelength of 13,000 cm −1 to 4,000 cm −1 ; and

calculating a concentration of the cumene hydroperoxide in the process stream, wherein calculating the concentration comprises excluding absorption bands from cumene, phenol, and acetone.

11. The process of claim 10 , further comprising withdrawing a sample from the process stream during decomposition of the cumene hydroperoxide; collecting absorption data for the sample with the spectrometer at a wavelength of 13,000 cm −1 to 4,000 cm −1 ; and calculating a concentration of the cumene hydroperoxide in the sample.

12. The process of claim 10 , further comprising concentrating the cumene hydroperoxide obtained during the oxidation process prior to decomposing the cumene hydroperoxide.

13. The process of claim 10 , wherein calculating the concentration of the cumene hydroperoxide in the sample comprises determining an absorption calibration curve from known concentrations of the cumene hydroperoxide.

14. The process of claim 11 , wherein calculating the concentration of the cumene hydroperoxide in the process stream or the sample is free of

additional reagents or additional sample preparation steps.