The efficient use of primary energy in the heating and melting steps should be possible in a counter-current reactor. In a reactor designed in this way, the scrap to be molten is continuously charged at the top. Fed material is transferred to the liquid state with tapping temperature roughly above liquidus by the combustion of fossil fuels with O2. Since it is physically impossible to significantly superheat the melt in the presence of solid material, superheating occurs in a separate vessel by electricity. The melting vessel here is a counter current reactor and the superheating vessel is an EAF with a power requirement comparable to that of a ladle furnace.