Dyckerhoff, August Gustav

Engineer, Chemist

Born: 10.10.1868 in Biebrich

died: 24.02.1947 in Wiesbaden

Dyckerhoff studied at the Technical University in Charlottenburg and at the University of Berlin, where he received his doctorate in 1894 after completing his studies in engineering and chemistry.

After practical training at the Portland cement factory in Stettin (founded in 1853) and a short trip to North America in 1886, he began his career as an industrial chemist at Dyckerhoff & Söhne, becoming a partner in 1901. When the company was converted into a stock corporation in 1931, Dyckerhoff moved to the Supervisory Board, from which he left in 1945 for health reasons.

As chairman of the standards committee in the Association of German Portland Cement Manufacturers, founded by his father Rudolf Philipp Wilhelm Dyckerhoff, Dyckerhoff rendered outstanding services to the further development of cement. He played a decisive role in shaping the international cement standard that was created at the time.

After a personal meeting with the great inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) in the USA, who was also involved in chemical process engineering, Dyckerhoff, together with his brother Alfred Rudolf Eugen Dyckerhoff, introduced the so-called thick slurry process in Amöneburg with compressed air mixing in silos to prepare the raw material for the rotary kilns. These replaced the ring kilns of the early days.

For product development at Dyckerhoff & Söhne, Dyckerhoff was responsible for the development of "Dyckerhoff Doppel" (1924). This was the first higher-grade cement that hardened twice as fast as the cements commonly used up to that time.

Dyckerhoff was an honorary senator of the TH Darmstadt and recipient of other awards.