Abstract: The invention provides a novel preheating apparatus and method for preheating a ferrous scrap mixture prior to feeding the scrap into a metallurgical furnace, primarily using heat recovered from hot waste gases emitted from the furnace exhaust port, and simultaneously reducing contaminants from the scrap and from the waste gases, with concurrent downward flow of hot waste gases and downwardly descending scrap. The apparatus has a chamber, including a top compartment with a cold scrap input for depositing cold scrap into the top compartment and a hot waste gas inlet in flow communication with the furnace exhaust port. The chamber also has a bottom compartment with a heated scrap discharging mechanism for force delivering the heated scrap into the furnace and a waste gas outlet in flow communication with a vacuum exhaust for evacuating spent waste gas.