About us

Welcome to the Process Control Group at UNSW, led by Prof Jie Bao.

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We work on process systems engineering, including dynamic process modelling, control and analysis. Our research is focused on:

Advanced control theory development, including:

Process control based on dissipativity theory.
Process control based on behavioral systems theory.
Process control based on big-data.
Nonlinear process control for flexible manufacturing.
Distributed control (including distributed model predictive control and economic model predictive control).
Integration of process design and control.
Fault detection and tolerant control systems.
Modelling and control of collective dynamics.

Process control applications, including:

Advanced control of aluminium reduction cells.
Control of flow batteries.
Control of coal handling and preparation processes.

Group leader

Professor Jie Bao

Professor Jie Bao, opens in a new window is an expert in dissipativity/passivity based process control. He leads the Process Control Research Group and is also the Director of ARC Research Hub for Integrated Energy Storage Solutions. He has been awarded more than $12M (excluding ARC LIEF projects) competitive research grants including 11 ARC Discovery Projects/large grants, 1 CSIRO National Flagship Research Cluster Project and a number of major industrial projects. He published extensively in major process control and chemical engineering journals. He is an Associate Editor of Journal of Process Control (an International Federation of Automatic Control affiliated journal) and Digital Chemical Engineering (an IChemE affiliated journal).

School of Chemical Engineering
The University of New South Wales
UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052
Australia

Room 301, Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
Telephone: +61 (2) 9385 6755
Facsimile: +61 (2) 9385 5966
Email: J.Bao@unsw.edu.au
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Professor Barry Welch

Professor Barry Welch is a renowned expert in electrochemistry and non-ferrous metallurgy, recognised for his significant contributions in both academia and industry. He has held prestigious roles, including Director of Research Centre of Surface and Materials Science and Head of Department, Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland (1981-1998), after serving as an Associate Professor at UNSW (1964-1980). Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor at UNSW, Emeritus Professor at the University of Auckland, and Director of Welbank Consulting Ltd, advising major aluminium smelters globally. A recipient of numerous awards such as the CHEMECA Medal (2012) and AIME James Douglas Gold Medal (2014), Prof. Welch has been honoured with the title of Honorary Life Fellow by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society - The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, and Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. His outstanding contributions were celebrated at a dedicated Honorary Symposium at TMS 2023.

Researchers

Dr. Lai Wei

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Lai Wei received his B.E in Electrical Engineering and Automation from the Tianjin University in 2016. He completed his M.E. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Melbourne with a First-Class Honours and two Dean’s Lists. He finished his PhD in 2022 entitled “discrete-time contraction analysis and controller design for nonlinear processes” at UNSW, Sydney. Lai is currently a postdoctoral research fellow with the School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, Australia. He is involved in nonlinear control theory development for ARC Discovery Projects, Vanadium battery energy management system design and designing smart sensor for a major aluminium smelter in the world. His current focus lies in the development of approaches to flexible process control using contraction theory, dissipativity theory and machine learning techniques.

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Email: lai.wei1@unsw.edu.au

Dr. Choon Jie Wong

Postdoctoral Fellow

Choon Jie Wong finished his B.E. (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from the Brunei Technological University and University of New South Wales in 2018 with a University Medal, a First-Class Honours, and two Dean's Awards. He completed his PhD in 2022 working on advanced mass/energy modelling and management of aluminium smelter cells. Currently, as part of the Australian Research Council Research Hub (ARC IESS Hub), his research direction is to use high-temperature aluminium smelting cells as virtual batteries to smoothen the mismatch between energy supply and demand while enabling flexible manufacturing. With skills and experience in heat and mass transfer in high temperature systems, phase change in aluminium electrolytic cells, and applied estimation and control technologies, he actively works with a major aluminium smelter in the world in three industrial projects worth over A$2M in total.

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Email: choonjie.wong@unsw.edu.au
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Dr. Yitao Yan

Postdoctoral Fellow

Yitao Yan received his B.E. (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2015. He completed his PhD in 2019 at UNSW on the behavioural approach to distributed control of large-scale interconnected systems. His research interests include behavioural systems theory, dissipativity theory and contraction theory, as well as their applications to distributed control. His current focus is on the development of a big-data-driven distributed control framework for plantwide systems using behavioural systems theory and machine learning techniques.

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Email: y.yan@unsw.edu.au
Postgraduate Research Students

Adam Larkin

Power Modulation of Aluminium Smelters

Supervisors:
Prof. Jie Bao, Prof. Emer. Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, Prof. Emer. Barry Welch

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Phone: +61 4 2992 8252
Email: a.larkin@student.unsw.edu.au

Bing Shu

Advanced Control and Grid Integration of Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

Supervisors:
Prof. Jie Bao, Dr. Ke Meng, Prof. Emer. Maria Skyllas-Kazacos

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Email: b.shu@student.unsw.edu.au

Jun Wen Tang

Big Data-Driven Control of Nonlinear Chemical Processes

Supervisors:
Prof. Jie Bao, Prof. Biao Huang, Dr. Yitao Yan

Level 2
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Phone: +61 4 1293 9932
Email: jun.tang@student.unsw.edu.au

Lai Wei

Big Process Data-By Integrating Machine Learning Techniques with Control Theory

Supervisors:
Prof. Jie Bao

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Phone: +61 4 3282 5174
Email: lai.wei1@student.unsw.edu.au

Luning Ma

Virtual Batteries

Supervisors:
Prof. Jie Bao, Prof. Emer. Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, Prof. Barry Welch

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Email: luning.ma@unsw.edu.au

Mengjie Zhao

A Big Data-Driven Control Approach for Chemical Processes

Supervisors:
Prof. Jie Bao, Prof. Wei Wang, Dr. Yitao Yan

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Phone: +61 4 6727 0102
Email: mengjie.zhao@student.unsw.edu.au

Shail Godiwala

Management and Control of Vanadium Flow Batteries

Supervisors:
Prof. Jie Bao, Assoc. Prof. Chris Menictas, Emeritus Prof. Maria Skyllas-Kazacos

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Phone: +61 4 2236 9755
Email: s.godiwala@unsw.edu.au

Shuangyu Han

A Big Data-Driven Control Approach for Nonlinear Chemical Processes in a System Behavioural Framework

Supervisors:
Prof. Jie Bao, Prof. Biao Huang

Level 3
Science and Engineering Building (SEB)
UNSW

Email: shuangyu.han@student.unsw.edu.au