ABSTRACT In the time dimension, the batch process with input dead-zone nonlinearity often has the characteristics of short operation time and time-varying process parameters. A two-dimensional recursive least squares (2D-RLS) identification method for time-varying nonlinear systems with input dead zone is proposed. By mining system dynamic information from the time direction of the same batch and different batch directions, the identification parameters are updated. The proposed two-dimensional identification strategy converts the time-varying parameter estimation problem of time dimension into the equivalent time-invariant parameter estimation problem of batch dimension. Sufficient production data in batch dimension ensure that the proposed identification algorithm can eliminate the influence of random measurement noise. The identification strategy with unequal length of batch data is also given. The convergence of the proposed algorithm is analysed. Finally, numerical simulation and experimental tests are used to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm.