Systems and methods for producing nitrates, nitric acid, salts thereof, or a mixture thereof are disclosed. The systems may include a feed conduit configured for receiving a feed stream comprising molecular oxygen and molecular nitrogen; an inlet conduit configured for receiving an inlet stream; a plasma reactor fluidically coupled to the inlet conduit, the plasma reactor fluidically coupled to a reactor-outlet conduit configured for receiving the reactor-outlet stream, the plasma reactor configured to produce oxidized nitrogen species; and an absorber fluidically coupled to the reactor-outlet conduit, the absorber configured to receive the reactor outlet stream and to produce nitrates, nitrites, nitric acid, salts thereof, or a mixture thereof from the reactor outlet stream. A recycle conduit may be fluidically coupled to the absorber and the inlet conduit, wherein the recycle conduit is configured to receive the gas-phase stream from the absorber and provide the gas-phase stream to the inlet conduit.