In a hard chromium electroplating process, a heat exchanger is employed to remove the heat produced from the high current intensity in an electroplating bath. Normally, a conventional U shape heat exchanger is installed in the bath, but it provides low heat removal. Thus, this study designs a novel W serpentine shape heat exchanger with identical heat transfer area to the conventional one for increasing heat removal performance. The performance of the heat exchange is tested with various flow velocities in a cross-section in range of 1.6 to 2.4 m.s(-1). Mathematical models of this process have been formulated in order to simulate and evaluate the heat exchanger performance. The results show that the developed models give a good prediction of the plating solution and cooling water temperature, and the novel heat exchanger provides better results at any flow velocity. In addition, the W serpentine shape heat exchanger has been implemented in a real hard chromium electroplating plant. Actual data collected have shown that the new design gives higher heat removal performance compared with the U shape heat exchanger with identical heat transfer area; it removes more heat out of the process than the conventional one of about 23%. (C) 2018 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.