Production of high purity olefins

A process for making an olefin product for the production of plastic, comprising:

• providing an oxygenate feed which comprises methanol;
• contacting the oxygenate feed with a SAPO-34 molecular sieve catalyst under conditions effective to convert the oxygenate feed to an olefin-containing composition, wherein the effective conditions include a weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of from 0.01 hr.sup.-1 to 100 hr.sup.-1, and a temperature of from 350.degree. C. to 550.degree. C.;
• and
• separating and recovering olefin product from the olefin-containing composition without subsequent removal of paraffins having the same number of carbon atoms as olefins from the olefin product, wherein the olefin product has a paraffin-to-olefin weight ratio of less than or equal to about 0.05;
• and
• producing plastic from the olefin product.