Crushed limestone is interground with clinker to produce cement, reducing the needs for clinker-making and calcination. The addition of up to 5% limestone has shown to have no negative impacts on the performance of Portland cement, while optimized limestone cement would improve the workability slightly.

 In India it was shown that the addition of alkali bicarbonate substantially reduces the potential for the alkali-aggregate reaction that takes place when alkali (NaOH) is formed in the cement. The potential expansion when using an alkali carbonate and bicarbonate in low porosity systems was measured using a highly reactive aggregate (crushed pyrex glass) according to the procedure outlined in A.S.T.M. C-227. The results demonstrated a reduced expansion of a low porosity mortar prepared with NaHCO₃ when compared to an equivalent Na₂CO₃ system.