The invention provides systems and methods for generating an adaptive nonlinear controller and utilizing the adaptive nonlinear controller to regulate the operation of nonlinear process systems. In particular, a method is provided for generating a control model by defining an objective function utilizing a target function that specifies the desired response of the system and a state-space model representing the dynamics of the non-linear system. When executed by a controller the control model causes the regulated system to operate as specified by the target function and thereby produce a product that is consistent with various prescribed quality metrics.
