slip slowly and adversely affecting the efficiency of the heat exchanger. Operation and maintenance cost is necessary for a heat exchanger. But there are different ways to minimize the cost. Firstly, cost can be minimized by reducing fouling formation on heat exchanger that decreases the overall heat transfer coefficient. According to analysis estimated, effect of fouling formation will generate a huge cost of operational losses which more than 4 billion dollars. The total fouling cost including capital cost, energy cost, maintenance cost and cost of profit loss. Chemical fouling inhibitors is one of the fouling control method. For example, acrylic acid/hydroxypropyl acrylate (AA/HPA) and acrylic acid/sulfonic acid (AA/SA) copolymers can be used to inhibit the fouling by deposition of calcium phosphate. Next, deposition of fouling can also be reduced by installing the heat exchanger vertically as the gravitational force pulls any of the particles away from the heat transfer surface in the heat exchanger. Second, operation cost can be minimized when saturated steam is used compared to superheated steam as a fluid. Superheated steam acts as an insulator and poor heat conductor, it is not suitable for heat application such as heat exchanger. See also Plate fin heat exchanger Heat transfer LMTD References Bibliography External links A list of published articles pertaining to plate heat exchangers A screening method for the optimal selection of plate heat exchanger configurations by J.M.Pinto and J.A.W.Gut, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Seeking the optimal design of a typical plate heat exchanger (PHE) by Athanasios G. Kanaris, Aikaterini A. Mouza and Spiros V. Paras, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Heat exchangers