A vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) model was developed and the VMD experiment of sodium chloride (NaCl) was carried out. Three different commercial hydrophobic PTFE flat-sheet membranes were used in our VMD experiments. Membrane characteristics, such as morphology, thickness, porosity, pore size distribution, hydrophobic and liquid entry pressure of water (LEPw) were investigated. The VMD experiments were carried out under different conditions of various feed temperatures, feed flow rates, feed concentrations and permeate side vacuum degrees. To validate the model, it was tested with an experimental case study of literature [Naidu et al., 2014]. The VMD model has been validated With the data obtained from our laboratory experiments and has been proved that the model can be used to predict the permeation flux on the overall process performance. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.