Method for operating a shaft furnace plant

A method for operating a shaft furnace plant comprising a shaft furnace and an ammonia reforming plant is presented, the method comprising the steps of (a.) feeding a stream of ammonia to the ammonia reforming plant; (b.) cracking said stream of ammonia in the ammonia reforming plant to produce a stream of reducing gas; (c.) feeding a metal oxide containing charge, e.g. an iron oxide containing charge and the stream of reducing gas into the shaft furnace; and (d.) reducing the metal oxide inside the shaft furnace by reaction between the metal oxide containing charge and the stream of reducing gas, wherein the reducing gas comprises less than 15 % of ammonia, preferably less than 10 % of ammonia. The present invention also relates to a shaft furnace plant configured to implement such a method.