In this work, a fixed-bed reactor was used to catalytically pyrolyze empty fruit bunches (EFB) using copper oxide-doped aluminum oxide (CuO/Al₂O₃). CuO/Al2O3 was analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The existence of monoclinic CuO and Al2O3 phases were identified. The presence of CuO distributed onto spherical and rectangular shaped Al2O3 was observed by SEM analysis. Response Surface Methodology was employed to optimize the process, with three independent parameters selected within predetermined ranges: catalyst-to-biomass ratio (7.65-30.00 wt%), heating rate (20-60°C/min), and reaction temperature (300-600°C). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that the model's p-value of 0.0312 indicated that it is significant. With a p-value of 0.0057, the pyrolysis temperature (Factor A) was identified as a significant factor. The optimal values were determined to be a reaction temperature of 540.69°C, a heating rate of 58.01°C/min, and a catalyst-to-biomass ratio of 9.12 wt%, resulting in an average bio-oil yield of 30.87 wt%. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), the bio-oils produced at pyrolysis temperatures of 300°C, 600°C, and 540.69°C were analyzed to examine variations in their chemical compositions. It was found that the bio-oils produced at pyrolysis temperatures of 300°C, 600°C, and 540.69°C contained high amounts of ketones of approximately 54.96, 30.35 and 50.44 % respectively. Specifically, the major ketone compounds identified were 2-propanone-1-hydroxy and 1-hydroxy-2-butanone which present in all bio-oils but at different proportions such as 35.53, 26.74 and 40.25 % in bio-oils produced at pyrolysis temperature of 300°C, 600°C, and 540.69°C respectively. The chemical compositions were also grouped into functional groups such as carboxylic acids, alcohols, esters, phenols, aldehydes, aromatics, furans, and hydrocarbons.