Sweet sorghum is a promising bioenergy crop that has great potential for bioethanol production due to its wide adaptability, high sugar yield, and drought tolerance. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the bioethanol yield potential and bagasse combustion characteristics of 13 sweet sorghum cultivars in a semiarid Mediterranean environment. The results showed that M81-E was the most promising cultivar for whole-crop bioethanol production due to it having the highest total ethanol yield, at 6885 L ha⁻¹. Dale exhibited the highest juice ethanol yield (1764 L ha⁻¹), with the lowest lignin (8.9%) and ash (2.31%) contents. The bagasse moisture contents of the cultivars were quite high, which varied between 66.61% and 70.51%, indicating that the bagasse must be dried before it is used as a feedstock for direct combustion. In this context, M81-E and Top76-6 were less suitable for solid biofuel production from their bagasse, because their comparatively long growth cycle did not allow for the open-air drying that was required to decrease the moisture content to an optimal level at a low cost. On the other hand, Umbrella was a promising cultivar in the study, because it achieved the highest dry bagasse yield (16.5 t ha⁻¹) and a total ethanol yield (6350 L ha⁻¹) comparable to that of Dale. These results suggested that sweet sorghum had a high potential for bioethanol production in a semiarid Mediterranean environment, but cultivation of the most suitable cultivars is the first step to ensure sustainability.

甜高粱是一种很有前途的生物能源作物，由于其广泛的适应性，高糖产量和耐旱性，具有生产生物乙醇的巨大潜力。本研究的目的是评估半干旱地中海环境中13个甜高粱品种的生物乙醇产量潜力和蔗渣燃烧特性。结果表明，由于M81-E具有最高的总乙醇产量（6885 L ha ^-1），因此是全作物生物乙醇生产的最有前途的品种。Dale展示了最高的果汁乙醇产量（1764 L ha ^-1），木质素含量最低（8.9％），灰分含量最低（2.31％）。甘蔗渣品种的水分含量很高，在66.61％和70.51％之间变化，这表明甘蔗渣在用作直接燃烧的原料之前必须先干燥。在这种情况下，M81-E和Top76-6不适合用蔗渣生产固体生物燃料，因为它们较长的生长周期不允许露天干燥，而露天干燥需要将水分降低至最佳水平成本低。另一方面，该伞在该研究中是很有前途的品种，因为它实现了最高的干甘蔗渣产量（16.5 t ha ^-1）和总乙醇产量（6350 L ha ^-1））与Dale相当。这些结果表明，在半干旱的地中海环境中，甜高粱具有很高的生物乙醇生产潜力，但最合适的栽培品种是确保可持续性的第一步。