Spent sugar beet pulp as received was digested in a single-stage, batch, unmixed, leach-bed, laboratory scale thermophilic anaerobic digester. Biogasification of each 0.450 kg (wet weight) batch of spent pulp was initiated by inoculating with anaerobically digested liquor from previous run. The average methane yield was 0.336 m(3) CH4 at STP (kg VS)(-1), the maximum methane production rate was 0.087 m(3) CH4 at STP (kg VS)(-1) d(-1), average lag time to initiate methanogenesis was only 0.44 days and time required to achieve 95% methane yield was 8 days. The pH in the digesters ranged between 8.0 and 9.5. High rates of methane generation were sustained even at high pH values. The equivalent organic loading rate in the batch digesters was 4 kg COD m(-3) d(-1). The digestion process used here offers significant improvements over one-stage and two-stage systems reported in the literature with comparable performance as it is a single-stage system where the feedstock does not require size reduction, and mixing is not required in the digester. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.