The invention discloses a low-temperature carbonization apparatus and method for oil sand, oil sludge, oil shale and biomass. The apparatus comprises a delivery apparatus, a storage bin, a metering apparatus, a drying furnace and a surge bin. The method comprises the following steps: drying, preheating, carbonizing, and cooling. The core of the invention is an external heating type rotary carbonization furnace which realizes the pyrolysis of oil sand, oil shale, oil sludge (oil sludge on the ground, oil sludge at the bottom of a tank and oil-containing sludge from oil refinery) and biomass, and the product is high in purity and low in loss. The invention effectively solves the problems of solid materials such as adhesion, wall accretion and the like in the pyrolysis process by material returning. The technology provided by the invention is simple in process and reliable and stable in operation, and has obvious advantages in the treatment of small particle materials such as oil shale, oil sand, oil sludge (oil sludge on the ground, oil sludge at the bottom of a tank and oil-containing sludge from oil refinery), biomass and the like.