The interaction between carbon dioxide and two zirconia catalysts - a Cu/ZrO2 catalyst containing 34% copper and a pure ZrO2 catalyst - was studied by pulse adsorption and temperature-programmed desorption methods. Kinetic modeling by nonlinear regression was applied to acquire information on the adsorption and desorption of CO2 relevant in the synthesis of methanol from carbon dioxide. A model that included three types of adsorption sites described well the experimental data for both Cu/ZrO2 and ZrO2. The model assumed first-order kinetics and a Freundlich-type logarithmic dependence of adsorption enthalpy on surface coverage. The parameters of the model were well identified and were in the physically meaningful range. The results indicate that, at 30 degrees C, on both catalysts, carbon dioxide adsorbs reversibly on one type of site and irreversibly on two other types of sites.