## 1 Introduction  
The pressure to find sustainable and alternative protein sources becomes more urgent as the world's population grows. People are increasingly looking at ways to diversify their diets to meet this rising demand [1]. A growing trend in the food industry is the search for proteins that are not only good for our health but also better for the environment. In this search, edible insects have emerged as a promising alternative [1, 2]. Farming insects requires fewer natural resources, like water and land, and results in lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional meat production [2, 3]. However, compared to regions like Asia or Africa, insect consumption is a new strategy in human nutrition and is still in its infancy in Western countries. It is due to consumers' opinion that insects are associated with filthy, contamination, and spoilage of food and limited promotion of insects as a sustainable source of essential nutrients [3, 4, 5]. The concerns about possible risks are eliminated by appropriate processing of the insects before consumption. The insects are dried before use, extending their shelf life, increasing safety, and providing new processing possibilities. The drying process results in a reduction in water activity, so the product is preserved [6]. This makes it possible to limit the availability of the environment for microorganisms to grow and leads to the inhibition of both chemical and enzymatic reactions in the product [6,7]. Convective drying is a common method used in food processing to remove water from diverse raw materials. The process involves the convective heat delivery to the dried material placed in a drying chamber. The drying medium is hot air flowing around the product, which absorbs water evaporating from the dried material [8,9]. The main disadvantages are long drying times and high temperatures, making the product harder and darker and losing many valuable ingredients [8,10,11]. Convective drying combined with infrared radiation can improve the process. When infrared radiation is applied to the surface of the dried material, its energy is absorbed mainly by the surface layers of the material and converted into heat. Consistently, heat penetrating the material causes the vibration of internal water molecules, thus causing the mass transfer and drying process [12,13]. Using infrared radiation during convective drying provides a higher heat transfer rate, uniform (volumetric) heating, lower drying time and energy consumption, decreased requirement for airflow around the product, and improved final quality [11,12,14]. However, drying with infrared radiation may cause degradation of the color [11] and crust formation on the material's surface, limiting water diffusion [14]. Nonetheless, correctly chosen air flow reduces the temperature of the surface of the dried material and reduces the risk of burning and crusting it [15]. After drying, the material can be powdered and used in different ways. The powdered form of food is known for its many benefits, including extended shelf life, convenience, ease of further processing, addition as an ingredient to other products, and its transport, storage, and packaging [16,17]. However, the properties of powders need to be characterized before use. This will make it easier to develop the formula and how it is applied during the production of various products. Still, it will also allow one to predict changes during transport, storage, and/or packaging. The properties of powders, such as bulk density, flowability, and solubility, are crucial parameters for further application [17,18] as an ingredient for fortifying food with valuable nutrients, e.g., lysine-poor products such as pasta, noodles, bread, and bakery products [19,20,21,22,23,24] or as replacement of wheat flour in gate recipe [25]. For example, flowability is associated with the size and shape of particles and the cohesive forces between powder particles. Additionally, the presence of fat in powders, especially surface fat, may influence its properties [17].