Isolation of omega-7 fatty acid ethyl esters from natural oils

A method of producing high purity palmitoleic acid ethyl esters, comprising:

• a. Providing a microalgae oil;
• b. Transesterifying the microalgae oil with a catalyst and ethanol as a reacting solvent in a reaction comprising at least one stage to produce ethyl esters;
• c. Distilling the ethyl esters to produce a first fraction comprising C18:1n9, C20:4n6, and C20:5n3 ethyl esters, and a second fraction comprising C16:0 and C16:1n7 ethyl esters;
• and
• d. Separating the C16:0 and C16:1n7 ethyl esters of the second fraction to produce a third fraction of C16:0 ethyl esters and a fourth fraction comprising at least 35% w/w C16:1n7 ethyl esters.