BACKGROUND: The utilization of biomass and agricultural wastes for production of biofuels is of interest as a research topic, since it could provide a cheaper process due to the wide availability and low cost of raw materials. RESULTS: In this work the vapor phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid to gamma-valerolactone over copper catalysts supported on ZrO2 was investigated. The catalysts were prepared by a wet impregnation method with Cu loadings varying from 2 to 20wt% and characterized by various physico-chemical techniques. It was observed that copper dispersion and particle size obtained using a N2O decomposition method are in agreement with the findings derived from XRD and TPR. The catalytic functionalities are discussed in relation to the dispersion of copper and other structural properties of Cu species supported on ZrO2. A comparison of catalytic results of Cu/ZrO2 was made with CuO supported on Al2O3, SiO2 and TiO2. CONCLUSIONS: Incorporation of 5wt% copper on ZrO2 resulted in well dispersed copper oxide on the support, evidenced by XRD, TPR and N2O decomposition studies. This catalyst exhibited good conversion (81%) of levulinic acid with good selectivity (83%) towards gamma-valerolactone. The activity results are directly related to the dispersion of copper and acidity. (C) 2015 Society of Chemical Industry