The invention discloses a method for extracting
glutathione. The method includes adding water,
adenosine triphosphate, Y--
glutamic acid and
cysteine synthase GSH I into L-
glutamic acid, L-
cysteine and
glycine which are used as substrates, carrying out
catalysis, adding
glutathione synthase GSH II into the substrates, carrying out
catalysis, carrying out two-step reaction to obtain
mixed solution with
glutathione, the Y--
glutamic acid and
cysteine synthase and the glutathione synthase, separating the glutathione, the Y--glutamic acid and cysteine synthase and the glutathione synthase from one another to obtain low-concentration glutathione
aqueous solution, the Y--glutamic acid and cysteine synthase and the glutathione synthase and allowing the Y--glutamic acid and cysteine synthase and the glutathione synthase to return systems to be reuse; carrying out low-pressure
reverse osmosis concentration and high-pressure
reverse osmosis concentration on the obtained low-concentration glutathione
aqueous solution, then adding absolute ethyl
alcohol into the glutathione
aqueous solution, carrying out
alcohol-
precipitation crystallization on the glutathione aqueous solution to ultimately obtain glutathione products and recycling and reusing ethyl
alcohol solution. The method has the advantages that high-concentration glutathione solution can be obtained by the aid of the method, the usage of the absolute ethyl alcohol can be reduced during alcohol-
precipitation crystallization,
energy consumption and the production cost can be decreased, the yield can be increased, the productivity can be improved,
wastewater and
waste gas can be prevented in production procedures, and accordingly the method is an environment-friendly, green and efficient production process.