Is it intended to remove coke from casting steel using foundries completly? Also the amount of motlen iron needed for things like iron pipe vs steel pipe seems very unbalanced (25 v 35 where the normal iron to steel ratio in smelting is 3:1)

yes it is intended to remove coke/coal from steel recipes. The ratio is not balanced around iron to steel, its balanced around molten iron -> steel ingot where 250 molten iron -> iron ingot (10 plates) and 500 molten iron -> 1 steel ingot (10 plates) or 700 molten iron -> 2 steel ingots for k2