A process for synthesizing a variety of molecular sieves has been
developed. The process involves forming a reaction mixture comprising
reactive sources of the framework elements plus at least one templating
agent, reacting the mixture to at least partially crystallize the
molecular sieve and provide a slurry of seed crystals and adding to it
nutrients (sources) of the framework elements, e.g. aluminum and silicon
in order to grow the seed crystals. The rate of addition of the nutrients
is controlled such that it is substantially the same as the crystal
growth rate and such that there is substantially no nucleation of new
crystals. The seed crystals may be the same or different than the
nutrients being added, thus allowing for a layered molecular sieve. When
the crystals have reached a desired size, they are isolated by
conventional techniques.