a catalyst for converting methanol to light olefins along with the process itself are disclosed and claimed . the catalyst is a metalloaluminophosphate molecular sieve having the empirical formula o 2 where el is a metal such as silicon or magnesium and x , y and z are the mole fractions of el , al and p respectively . the molecular sieve has a crystal morphology in which the average smallest crystal dimension is at least 0 . 1 microns . use of this catalyst gives a product with a larger amount of ethylene versus propylene .