This paper aimed to use the major part of carbohydrate fractions in enzymatic hydrolysate of sweet sorghum bagasse, acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation was performed following the ethanol fermentation of hexoses. In batch ethanol fermentation stage, 50.8 +/- 3.2 g/L of ethanol was produced from 111.5 g/L of glucose in hydrolysate. After ethanol recovery by batch vacuum distillation, 123.6 +/- 15.6 g/L of ethanol was obtained in the distillate, while 47.2 +/- 2.5 g/L of xylose was remained in the fermentation broth. The ethanol-free broth was further used as the substrate for ABE fermentation. Compared with yeast remaining scenario, the cell-free ethanol fermentation broth showed a better performance in ABE production. 7.37 +/- 0.33 g/L of butanol and 10.93 +/- 0.54 g/L of ABE solvent were produced after 120 h of batch fermentation. Based on the biorefinery strategy that cascade two-types of fermentation process, the overall solvents yield boosted significantly, about 144.8 g of ethanol, 17.3 g of butanol and 4.8 g of acetone can be produced from 1 kg sweet sorghum bagasse. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.