As Douglas2 pointed out (Douglas Doctrine) two decades ago, the costs of raw materials and products are usually much larger than the costs of energy or capital in a typical chemical process. Therefore the process must be designed (investing capital and paying for energy) so as to not waste feed stocks or lose products (particularly in the form of undesirable products). Process
economics dictate that the conversion of reactant must be quite high. These principles are clearly illustrated in the cumene process in several ways.