CHARGING SYSTEM FOR A METALLURGICAL FURNACE

The invention relates to a charging system (1) for a metallurgical furnace (100) that is elongate along a horizontal length direction (X) in that it has a longer dimension in the length direction (X) than in a horizontal width direction (Y) perpendicular thereto, the charging system (1) being adapted for feeding a plurality of materials to the metallurgical furnace (100). In order to provide a space-saving, simplified charging system for a furnace with an elongate cross-section, the invention provides that the charging system comprises: - a lock hopper (10) for receiving material, having an inlet sealing element (11) and an outlet sealing element (12), the lock hopper (10) being adapted to receive material through the inlet sealing element (11) when the inlet sealing element (11) is open, and being adapted to discharge material through the outlet sealing element (12) when the outlet sealing element (12) is open, the sealing elements (11, 12) being adapted to gas-tightly seal the lock hopper (10) when they are closed; - at least one process hopper (30) having a plurality of material chambers (31, 32, 33); - a transfer system (20) connecting the lock hopper (10) to each material chamber (31, 32, 33) and adapted to receive material from the lock hopper (10) through the outlet sealing element (12) and selectively transfer the received material from the lock hopper (10) to at least one selected material chamber (31, 32, 33) whereby different materials are transferable to different selected material chambers (31, 32, 33); and - a feeder system (40) connecting each material chamber (31, 32, 33) to the furnace (100), wherein the sealing elements (11, 12) are adapted to be opened alternatingly, so that the at least one process hopper (30) and the transfer system (20), downstream of the lock hopper (10), are separated by the sealing elements (11, 12) from an outside atmosphere, upstream of the lock hopper (10).