Since autumn of 1971 sponge iron is used in the elec-tric furnace shop of Hamburger Stahlwerke GmbH for the steel making process. Both the equipment used for contin-uous charging of sponge iron and the melting practice applied is described. The effect of varying percentages of sponge iron in the charge on meltdown time and refining time, power consumption and further metallurgical aspects are reviewed
