Oxalic acid: a microbial metabolite of interest for the pulping industry.

Oxalate is a common metabolite produced by almost all plant-pathogenic fungi. The degradation of cell wall from poplar chips and poplar sawdust by oxalate is reviewed here. Oxalate treatments decrease slightly the amount of sugars constituting hemicelluloses, but only in fibres and not in sawdust or wood chips.