Ethylene and 1, 3-butadiene are important organic chemical raw materials. Petroleum hydrocarbon cracking is the most widely used method for ethylene fabrication worldwide. In this study, the use of a ZrO₂ catalyst, which can be easily synthesized, for the efficient conversion of bioethanol to ethylene and 1, 3-butadiene was analyzed. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, temperature-programmed desorption, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analyses were used to evaluate the surface properties of ZrO₂. The selectivity of ZrO₂ toward ethylene and 1,3-butadiene was as high as 98.2%. Catalyst selectivity toward dehydration or dehydrogenation products depends on the nature of the weak acid-base catalytic sites, whereas high-strength base and intermediate-strength acid catalytic sites selectively yield ethylene.