Enhancement of hydrodeoxygenation catalytic performance through the addition of copper to molybdenum oxide-based catalysts

•Bulk and supported molybdenum catalysts show high selectivity for benzene (∼ 100%).•The carbon support promotes the reduction of molybdenum even under an N2 atmosphere.•Both carbon support and the addition of copper favor phenol conversion.•CuMo/C is the most active and selective catalyst for HDO of phenol.•A correlation between the HDO rate and the number of oxygen vacancies is observed.