In order to enlighten which difficulties the concept of social acceptability raises, this article aims at asking how biorefineries are anchored in their hosting area. Biorefineries are indeed supposed to epitomize sustainability and energy transition. Yet they are only submitted to a “end of pipe” acceptance process, focused on the facility and not on the up- and downstream questions (agricultural changes, products...). Moreover the decision-making process is exclusive : “epistemic communities” promote biorefineries at a European and national levels, while “communities of practice and action” support their development at a local scale. Continental biorefineries get little social and civic appropriation and then legitimacy, while they benefit from huge public support.