Evaluation of Surface-initiated Polymer brush as Anti-scaling Coating for Plate Heat Exchangers

•Surface-initiated hydroxyl POEGMA and methyl POEGMEMA polymer brushes reduce CaCO3 fouling on stainless steel surfaces.•High graft density is more important than coating thickness for reducing CaCO3 fouling.•Less CaCO3 fouling occurs when surfaces are incubated under flow.•The CaCO3 fouling layer formed POEGMA and POEGMEMA brushes is easily detached.•The surface-initiated polymerisation process is scalable for industrial application of thin polymer brush coatings.